


Operation: Confession

by SoManyButts



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Basically female reader getting dem volleyball boys, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Making Out, Pre-Slash, Smut, That's the Entire Plot, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, everyone's in love with you, female oc - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 13:26:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 53,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6117844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoManyButts/pseuds/SoManyButts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While at a training camp, Ukai gets saddled with babysitting his niece. His sixteen-year-old niece, who immediately grabs the attention of every boy in the room. After realising that they all feel the same way about her, they decide the best way to handle the situation is a competition to see who can ask her out first. But little do they know, she already has her sights set on one of them...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who's That Chick? (Introduction)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's been so long since I last wrote anything. My other fic, Immortui, literally hasn't been updated since July (yikes). I need to go back and do something about that, but I thought this up at 3am last night and managed to crank out 500 words before falling asleep.
> 
> Basically it's female Reader x everyone listed in the relationships. This chapter's purely an introduction, and then every chapter after that will be a different character gettin' it on with you (yes,you). There's also some POV changes, from third person, to second, and back to third again. 
> 
> Not making any promises on when I'll be updating, because I'm really bad at keeping up-to-date (see: haven't updated Immortui since July) but I'll try and get chapters done whenever and wherever possible.

It was an event that had never been seen before in the history of volleyball, but somehow the gathering together of the seven high school teams worked perfectly. In the large expanse of the Shiratorizawa campus, they joined together: Shiratorizawa themselves, plus Karasuno, Aoba Jousai, Date Tech, Johzenji, Nekoma and Fukuroudani. The reason? Nothing more than a lighthearted training camp, or as lighthearted as the athletes would allow given their competitive natures.

For two weeks the teams would play, train, eat and sleep together. With it being summer, the school was only being used by clubs during the day, meaning that at night the buildings would be uninhabited. Or rather, they would've been uninhabited, if not for the volleyball-playing teenagers who had taken residence in several emptied out classrooms specifically for this purpose. They had laid claim to nine in total, one for each team, plus one for the coaches and another for the managers.

It was during a match between Karasuno and Fukurodani on the third day of the camp that it happened. Both teams paused, the ball stilling in Kageyama's hands, where it had been about to be served, as the incessant ringtone filled the air. Each boy looked over to the bench, to see Coach Ukai, slightly red-faced at the sudden attention, fish a mobile phone out of his pocket, before staring at the name displayed on the screen, and running outside to answer it after shooting a quick "I need to take this!" over his shoulder.

Next to the spot the man had just vacated, Takeda turned back to the teams and cleared his throat, issuing them a quiet, "Keep playing", watching as the boys did just that, but still nervously glancing to the door the coach had exited from every so often.

No less than twenty minutes later Ukai returned, looking a bit disgruntled but other than that perfectly fine. Sitting down next to a confused Takeda, he whispered, "My sister. She needs someone to look after my niece for the next couple weeks while she's in hospital."

"Is she alright?" The other man asked worriedly.

"I assume so. She wouldn't tell me exactly what was wrong, but if it were somethin' serious she'd tell me." He sighed before continuing, "When she mentioned babysittin' I told her I was here and couldn't, but she said, 'Even better! She can make a few friends then!'" The mocking tone used to relay his sister's words drew a giggle from the other man, who knew just fine that the coach loved his sister dearly, and her daughter just as much, but they still fought like regular siblings.

By this point the game had reached its conclusion, the Tokyo team winning in straight sets, but had had to put up a fight both times, resulting in a win that was entirely theirs yet was close to being a loss. After the teams had bowed to one another and received talks from their coaches, Ukai informed the boys that he would be gone for a few hours and that if they had any worries they were to take them to Takeda. They nodded obediently, before running off to complete their punishment for losing.

***

You had just finished packing a few books into your backpack when the doorbell rang. Knowing it was merely your Uncle Keishin, you called that the door was open and turned back to zip up the bag in your hands. It, plus a gym bag which held your clothes and toiletries, was your luggage for the training camp you were being forced to attend. Not that you had to actually do any training yourself, but being moved halfway across Japan for the next week and a bit and put in an unknown school filled with unknown people - except of course your Uncle and Takeda-sensei, who was still being introduced to you as Keishin's friend even though you knew better - was not something you wanted. 

Your mother had told you of the sudden change in plan only two hours ago, after the phone call with her younger brother during which she found out that he was doing 'some volleyball thing', as your mother had put it, and that you'd be joining him there. You didn't particularly mind being around new people, especially not when those people would be mostly boys, but you knew from experience at your own school that these boys would be more interested in playing sports than making friends, especially when said new friend was someone who could barely run for thirty seconds straight let alone run around a court for two sets.

You mentally scolded yourself. You knew there was no point in dwelling on how much you didn't want to go, when the reason you were going was because your mother had gone to hospital earlier that day. For a 'routine check-up', although what exactly was 'routine' about being kept in for two weeks, you weren't sure. You figured Keishin had had the same thought as you - that if it were something serious, she'd have told you - because when he poked his head into your room he was extremely calm. 

"Hey squirt!" He called, "Need a hand with those?" 

You didn't, because they were light enough, but you accepted his help anyway, watching him disappear out the door with both bags slung on his back, most likely to shove them in the boot of the car. You took a final glance around your room, noting that there was nothing more you needed to take, before following your Uncle out and locking the door behind you. It was hardly the first time you'd be away from home for a while, but it still tugged at your heart to say goodbye, even if it was only for a short time. 

Keishin was already in the driver's side, the window open slightly and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. You knew he'd take care during the journey to blow the smoke directly out the window and away from you at all times, but you knew the smell would still be trapped inside the small car, and the thought nauseated you. As you climbed into the passenger's side, you noticed he'd left your backpack in the space for your feet, and you were thankful, remembering the books and game consoles you'd packed to alleviate boredom during the camp. 

"Ready?" He asked, blowing a puff of smoke out the window.

You nodded. "Ready."

***

The journey had been long and uneventful, as your Uncle certainly wasn't the sort to hold a conversation for two hours. You were just waking up from a nap, headphones digging painfully into your neck from where you'd left them before dozing off, when you started seeing signs for Shiratorizawa Academy. The very same Shiratorizawa Academy which was to be your home for the next eleven days. You couldn't help but groan.

"Mornin', Sleeping Beauty. You were out cold for a while, I was startin' to wonder if I'd need to carry you in."

You glanced over at your Uncle, looking a bit tired himself from driving for so long, and thankfully not smoking any more. "We nearly there?" You asked, secretly hoping the answer was 'no'.

"Mhm, another couple'a turns and we're there." You groaned again, earning you a frown, "Quit it, the boys'll be glad to meet you."

I scoffed, "Yeah, or they'll ignore me completely. Can't wait." You cheered drily.

"So what if they ignore you? You'll be roomin' with the girls, and you have your fantastic Uncle Keishin for company. Oh, and Itte-I mean, Sensei, too."

You waggled your eyebrows at him for his little slip-up, and laughed at the blush now dusting his cheeks. But you didn't say anything more, knowing that he'd say something when the time was right.

You watched as the car you were travelling in turned onto a massive campus, one which could only belong to the mighty Shiratorizawa, and you whistled lowly at the buildings looming up in every direction. Pretty soon you'd parked, your Uncle retrieving your bag from the boot of the car as you hoisted your rucksack onto your back, getting out and stretching your muscles as Keishin closed the door behind you and locked the car. You took a deep breath and began to follow him to the door of one of the gyms, where you knew the teams would be. You told yourself you were ready, and the door opened.

You had lied to yourself. You were not ready.

You were definitely not ready for every pair of eyes in the room to turn towards you, everyone stopping in their tracks to witness Karasuno's coach walking in with you in tow. You looked around sheepishly, sure that your face was now bright red, as Keishin addressed the room.

"Everyone, this is my niece. She'll be stayin' with us for the remainder of the training camp, so be nice or you'll have me to answer to!" He put on his best intimidating face to deliver the last line, which seemed to work as almost every boy in the room nodded their heads quickly. 

Realising your Uncle was finished talking, you stepped forward and bowed politely. "I-It's a pleasure to meet you all!" You said weakly, but it seemed to do the trick as you got several replies of "You too!" with even a couple of quiet "It definitely  _is_ a pleasure", but you decided not to think too hard on what those could mean.

As you straightened up, your eyes locked on one boy in particular, and your heart stopped. Maybe this training camp was a good thing after all.

***

Night had fallen on the third day of camp, and a large group of boys had gathered in Karasuno's room, the two other occupants who simply wanted to sleep having moved themselves into Nekoma's room next door. The reason for the meeting was one thing in particular: the newest arrival at the training camp.

Oikawa had flopped himself unceremoniously onto the floor in front of Iwaizumi, whining out a "Whyyyy is she so prettyyyyy, it's not fairrrr. Iwa-chan, do something about ittt." In response, the ace rolled his eyes and grabbed the pillow next to his feet, using it to hit his annoying captain.

A dreamy sigh came from the other side of the room, "She is gorgeous though," the wistful words coming from none other than Karasuno's libero, Noya. Nods in agreement were given from all around the room, as well as a few more sighs.

A few heads snapped towards Kenma, as a quiet "She likes video games," came from his mouth, his attention solely on the PsP in his hands. Kuroo smirked from beside him, amused that his best friend was interested in something new for a change.

Across from them, Tsukishima cleared his throat. "She has the same headphones as me," he told the others. The low snickers that could be heard following this statement were quickly stopped after the glare received from Suga.

Akaashi sighed deeply, "What are we going to do about it? She'll be here until camp finishes."

" _Is_ there anything we can do about it?" Asked Yaku.

Tanaka and Yamamoto shared a look, devious smirks plastered on both boys' faces as they stood up to regard everyone in the room.

"Why don't we make this more interesting?" 

"Interesting how, Tanaka-san?" Yamaguchi asked.

The others in the room watched as the two shared a look again, before they spoke together.

"A competition!"

Everyone in the room froze, trying to figure out if this was the best idea they'd ever heard, or the worst. 

"Whoever asks her out first wins." They added.

At this Oikawa scoffed, "That's not much of a competition."

All eyes turned to the Grand King, still lying on the floor, now hugging the pillow that had been used to batter him before. He rolled his eyes and sat up, "Anyone can ask a girl out. How about, whoever asks her out _successfully_ wins. It's hardly a win if you're the first to confess but she rejects you."

Yamamoto brightened up, "Then it's decided! If she says yes, you've won. But," he paused, another smirk on his face, "You can only ask her out once. If she rejects you, you're out."

Suga breathed out a sigh of relief, "Thank God. I don't like the thought of some of you hounding her with confessions in the hope that she'll eventually say yes. You have to consider her feelings in this too." His words were accompanied by a nod from Daichi next to him.

"Anyone not interested put their hands up now," Tanaka called, but was met with silence as no hands went up. He snickered, "In that case, may the best man win." 

 


	2. You Are the Music in Me (Tsukishima Kei)

Four days passed in the blink of an eye, and suddenly it was the end of the first week, marking that exactly half of the training camp had been and gone. In that time you'd made friends with all the managers and even most of the players themselves. You'd surprised yourself with how well you'd coped and with how accommodating the others had been with you suddenly joining them. Despite it only being a few days since your arrival, you found yourself feeling comfortable around your new friends, including one friend in particular.

You'd taken to coming outside after dinner, sitting on one of the many benches dotted around the large campus, with your headphones around your neck and your phone in your pocket. The evening air was warm, a lot cooler than it had been earlier in the day, but not cold enough for you to feel a chill. You sat down, breathing out a sigh as you pulled your headphones up to cover your ears, turning on the music and closing your eyes as the sounds encompassed you fully.

You weren't sure how long it had been, not even entirely sure how many songs had played in the time you'd been sitting. As you opened your eyes you noticed how groggy you felt and how dark it suddenly was, before realising that you must've fallen asleep. Your phone was still in your hand, and you brought it up to your face, wincing at the light shining into your tired eyes. You quickly pressed pause, and were about to move your headphones before a sound made you freeze.

A sound that was definitely someone exhaling loudly. Now, this sound wouldn't have caused you to freeze if it had been in any other circumstances. But as it stood, it wasn't the sound itself which startled you, but instead where the sound had come from. Namely, right next to your head.

At this point you had woken up almost completely, and were vaguely aware of a sense of confusion at the back of your mind. If you recalled, it had been there since you'd opened your eyes, but after blinking a few times you figured out what was wrong. Your vision, which should've been perfectly ordinary considering the fact you'd fallen asleep sitting upright, was instead at an angle. And you could register something solid beneath your left ear, meaning you were resting your head against something. 

It wasn't until you heard breathing again that you realised that that some _thing_ was more of a some _one_.

You almost groaned, but stopped yourself when you remembered that doing so would wake up the person next to you, who you'd already decided was asleep given the levelled breathing and the fact that they were perfectly still. You quickly snuck a glance up in the direction of the person's face, and took note of blond hair and glasses, which made you freeze again. But for an entirely different reason this time.

Because the person you were leaning on was Tsukishima. Stoic, sarcastic Tsukishima who had your exact same taste in music and headphones and even, as you'd found out earlier that day, dinosaur movies. The very same Tsukishima who blushed like a tomato when you'd called him Tsukki the day before, the nickname that so far no-one but Yamaguchi had been allowed to call him. But he didn't tell you off for it. 

You'd noticed him immediately when you first walked into the gym four days ago. He was one of the tallest in the room, so of course he'd grab your attention, and you'd even met his eyes, but he'd quickly looked away, and you decided that he probably didn't like you. At least, until later that night when he'd asked what music you were listening to. You'd told him, and watched as his eyes widened considerably and his lips curled slightly upwards in the slightest hint of a smile that had warmed your heart effortlessly. 

The two of you had slipped into an easy conversation after that, talking about songs and albums and bands like you'd known each other your whole lives. And you'd seen the way his teammates had looked at you with confusion, to the point where a few had even asked how you'd managed to get so many words out of him. You weren't sure, although some part of your mind gave you an answer, but you'd called it nothing more than wishful thinking and forgotten about it.

But now you were leaning on his shoulder. And oh boy, did you really hope that it wasn't wishful thinking.

Your thoughts were cut short as he moved slightly and you realised he was waking up. With a bit of panic you shut your eyes and evened out your breathing, deciding that if he thought you'd woken up first he might be embarrassed. You heard the boy groan and shift slightly, before calling your name in a hushed whisper. You did nothing, keeping up your act purely to see what he would do. 

You heard him breathe out a laugh, the air hitting your head softly. A strand of hair became displaced by the small wind, and fell down to hang over your face. You fought the urge to tuck it behind your ear, but instead you felt fingers that were definitely not yours doing just that. You could've cried; his hands felt so gentle, so unlike his personality when around his teammates, even when he was around you. But now, it seemed, when he thought nobody could see him his true nature shined through. And the gentleness of his actions matched the gentleness of his voice when he spoke.

"The King would be so jealous if he saw me here." He mumbled, apparently to himself. You mentally slapped a hand to your forehead, of course his first words would mention the setter he disliked so much. "They all would. They all seemed so confident about confessing, but none of them have managed it yet, have they? Fuck, you're so perfect."

Now you really were close to tears. Every word he said made your heart beat more and more, until the blood pumping in your ears sounded much like the rhythm of the song you'd been listening to only minutes ago. You would have to 'wake up' soon, you knew it. But every muscle in your body screamed at you to stay right there, to see if he said anything else.

"I want to confess so badly." That was it.

"Why don't you then?" Your quiet voice joined the night, and you felt him become rigid beneath you, the sharp intake of breath making you smile in the evillest of ways. You slowly sat upright, looking over at the boy who was now almost completely petrified. It was definitely a deer-in-the-headlights moment, and you couldn't help but giggle. 

He gulped audibly, "Y-You were awake?!" 

"The whole time," You told him, mentally applauding yourself for how smooth you sounded. He looked torn between slapping himself and slapping you, and you hoped he decided against both options. 

The silence carried on for a few minutes, and you rolled your eyes, the confidence building as you turned to face him. "So, Tsukishima Kei," you began, "Don't you have something you want to tell me?"

He looked away for a moment, and you swore to yourself that if he said 'no' you would punch him, before all intelligent thought shut off completely inside your mind as you felt a pair of lips against your own. You counted two heartbeats before he pulled away, a smirk etched on his features that made your blood boil. "Will that suffice?" He said in a low voice, and you were so ready to fight him with everything you had, when a whine echoed out from the doorway of the nearest building.

" _MEGANE-KUN_ WON?!?" It was Bokuto. The noisy owl was staring over at the two of you with an expression mixed between anger and hurt. You knew exactly what he was talking about of course, the competition being explained to you fully by Suga who didn't want you to feel uncomfortable about suddenly getting confessed to. It surprised you that Tsukishima was part of it however, as you were sure he wasn't the type to be interested in such things. 

From beside him, Kuroo slinked forward, "Not yet bro, she hasn't said anything yet."

Tsukishima's head snapped to face your own, apparently only realising himself that he hadn't received your answer. You rolled your eyes once more at the sudden disappearance of his confidence, instead gathering your own to grab his chin and fix his lips back against yours. He responded eagerly, and you heard another whine from Bokuto, followed by a sigh from Kuroo.

" _Now_ , Megane-kun's won."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realise that Tsukki's a little OOC in this, but I just love the thought of him actually being really gentle and caring under all that sarcasm.   
> I nearly cried myself while writing this, fluff is a killer.
> 
> Feel free to come talk to me:  
> brookutoh.tumblr.com


	3. Suga(r) We're Going Down Swinging (Sugawara Koushi)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the chapter title is as funny to others as it is to me.

You could feel a headache coming. 

It was only natural really, given your current location. You were sitting in on yet another day of volleyball matches, and the sound of the balls being hit and slammed against the ground coupled with the yelling of "Don't mind, don't mind" or "Nice receive" was making your head pound. It didn't help that one of the teams playing was Karasuno, who you'd realised by now was the loudest team, even managing to drown out Bokuto in terms of noise.

You groaned slightly as another of Hinata's quick spikes was executed, meaning a point being scored but unfortunately for you another loud sound. From beside you, your Uncle looked at you curiously, "You cheerin' for the other team?"

It took you a minute to realise that he'd assumed your groan of pain was a groan of protest at Karasuno's point, so you frantically shook your head, but stopped to wince as that only hurt you even more. "No, no, it's just noisy is all."

He hummed in response, "Go take a walk then, I'll have one of the boys get you when it's time for dinner."

You sighed in relief and thanked him, walking through the gym door and outside, breathing in the fresh air. You started walking towards the centre of the vast campus, which you'd already mapped out in the six days you'd been here. Despite finding many good areas for napping and even better ones for hiding from confessing boys, you'd chosen the large tree in the middle as your ultimate favourite location. 

It was an old oak, massive and slightly gnarled, with some protrusions from the thick trunk which made climbing it easy. And climb it you did. Despite not being particularly athletic or fond of exercise, you prided yourself on the way you could scale trees with ease, and this one was no exception. With a foot there, a hand here, and a bit of hoisting yourself up, you were able to straddle the widest branch, which you'd dubbed the 'sleeping branch'. 

Placing your back to the trunk and resting your legs along the length of the branch was the comfiest position for sleeping, and it took you almost no time at all to fall into an easy sleep, your headache long forgotten.

You dreamt of a boy with silver hair and brown eyes, a pretty beauty mark placed under his left eye. You sighed in content as the two of you walked hand-in-hand through the campus, every other boy looking at the two of you with jealousy, but you didn't care, and neither did he. He turned to you, a sparkle in his eye, as he opened his mouth to say something. You knew what he was going to say, knew he was going to confess to you, and you couldn't wait to hear the words. But from his mouth came your name, and although it was the correct voice, the boy in front of you was calm despite the panicked shouting you were hearing from him. 

Slowly you woke up, realising that the yelling was coming from real life and not from what had apparently been nothing more than a dream. There was no doubt about it, the voice belonged to Suga, the very same person you had been dreaming about. You had never dreamt of him before, never even thought of him in any way other than a friend, who had come to you on the morning of your first full day at the camp with news of a competition of sorts between some of the boys. You were thankful for him telling you, not entirely sure if you'd be able to handle being unknowingly confessed to left and right.

You found him to be an excellent person to talk to, always wanting to hear your worries and ready to help at a moment's notice. You thought him the sweetest and gentlest person you'd ever met. Which was why you'd been confused by the dream, but what confused you even more was the ache left in your heart when you realised it had only been a dream. Before you had time to think on it, however, you heard the shouting coming closer.

"Suga?" You called out, "Is that you?"

You heard a relieved sigh, and saw the face from your dream appearing at the base of the tree, "Thank God," he breathed. "I was worried we wouldn't be able to find you. Ukai nearly killed Noya when he came back empty-handed. Are you okay? How did you get up there?"

You giggled at his suddenly worried tone, "I'm fine, Suga. I climbed up here."

His worried frown didn't leave, "You could've fallen!"

"But I didn't."

"But you could've!"

You sighed. "Is it time for dinner?"

"Yes. Please be careful climbing down."

You rolled your eyes slightly at his mothering nature, making sure he didn't see you. "I'm always careful," you told him.

You saw him bite his lip as you began to manoeuvre yourself off the branch, and you found the sight oddly endearing. However, you were so busy looking at the boy on the ground that you didn't properly see the placements of your hands and feet against the bark. Meaning you didn't quite understand when your hand suddenly slipped off the part of the trunk it had grabbed, and were doubly confused when the movement of your hand slipping made your foot lose purchase, and suddenly you were falling. You heard a scream from Suga, or maybe from you, you weren't sure, before you hit the ground and your vision went black.

***

When you woke you were staring at white ceiling tiles. There were six in your immediate vision, slightly blurry at first but coming more into focus as you continued to blink rapidly. There was a pounding in your head, and you suddenly recalled your last memory. You could've laughed, falling out of a tree is not something you'd ever done before but you could imagine your Uncle forbidding you to ever climb trees again.

Oh shit, Keishin.

You slowly brought your head down to look at the length of the bed, noting that it was the Shiratorizawa infirmary you were in, and not a hospital as you'd first thought. The window on your right showed you that it was dark out, meaning you'd been asleep for either a few hours or a full day. You opted for the former, as your body's stiffness was disappearing fast alongside the pain in your head.

There were two figures in the room with you, each sitting on opposite sides of the bed. One was your Uncle, looking at you with tired eyes and a slight smile. You smiled back, before looking towards the second figure. Silver hair and a beauty mark under his left eye. You also knew this particular person had beautiful brown eyes, but they were currently closed as he rested his head on the bed next to your legs. You could make out a puffiness underneath his eyelids, and slight tear tracks down the cheek that you could see. Had he been crying? The steady movements of his back told you he was sleeping, and you nearly gasped as you saw that his left hand was enveloping your right. You swallowed down the shock however, not wanting to wake this sleeping angel.

"He hasn't left your side the whole time. Tired himself out cryin'." The quiet voice of your Uncle snapped you out of your reverie, and you saw a knowing smirk on his face.

"He was crying?" You asked softly.

"Like a baby. If it'd been any of the others I'd'a socked him one when he came to the gym carryin' you. But I knew it must've been an accident because it was Suga. And I was right."

"You didn't cry?" You put on a face of mock hurt.

He rolled his eyes. "You're an Ukai, we're made'a strong stuff." His voice dropped, "I was worried though."

"Awww," You cooed, "That's adorable."

He clicked his tongue, "Whatever, I should go tell the others you're alright. Give you some time alone with lover boy there," he said, gesturing to the boy whose hand you were still holding. You felt your face heat up and he snickered as he left the room.

You took a deep breath and softly shook your conjoined hands. "Suga? Hey wake up," you whispered.

You watched as he slowly awoke, peeking up at you from his spot on the bed. He looked confused, before his eye widened and he shot up, face full of concern. You could clearly see the redness of his eyes and the tear stains on his cheeks. You couldn't help but think how beautiful he was. His hand left yours and before you could complain it had relocated to the side of your face, his other hand joining it on the other side.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling? God, I was so worried."

You smiled at his words, bringing your hand up to cover his and leaning into it. You felt safe, your heartbeat thumping wildly in your ears. "I'm fine, Suga. Thank you for taking care of me."

"Of course I took care of you! I was there when you fell, I should've caught you, I should've....Christ, it's all my fault." You saw tears pooling in his eyes and you reached forward, bringing him into a hug, shushing him.

"Of course it's not your fault. Besides," You started, "If you'd caught me we probably would've both gotten hurt. I'm quite heavy."

He sobbed softly into your shoulder. "I thought you weren't going to wake up."

"Hey now," you called, pulling out of the embrace and looking him in the eyes. "It was hardly that serious. I'm really not worth all that worrying over."

"Of course you are!"

You froze mid-laugh at the serious and almost angry look on his face. "Suga?" You asked weakly.

"We may not have known each other all that long, but I've fallen for you, completely and utterly, and I was terrified that I'd never get to tell you that. I must've said 'I love you' about fifty times while you were unconscious. I honestly thought Ukai was going to punch me at first."

You stared wide-eyed at the boy in front of you as he talked. "You...love me?" It was the only question you could ask.

He nodded sheepishly. "Sorry," he whispered. "I know I'm not exactly-" But you didn't let him finish, pressing your lips against his almost frantically. You tried to get as many feelings across in the kiss as you possibly could, and it seemed to work as you felt him melt into it. You felt the room begin to heat up as your mouths moved against each other, and you dared to send a small lick along his lower lip, gauging his reaction. He opened his mouth eagerly, and you continued like this, your hands at the back of his head, tugging his hair ever so slightly, until the sound of a throat being cleared snapped the two of you back to reality.

Your Uncle was leaning against the frame of the open door, a grin on his face. "Geez, when I said I'd give you some time alone, I didn't think you'd use it like this."

From the hallway behind him, you heard voices.

"I guess Suga won."

"I'm surprisingly okay with that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write make-out scenes for shit.
> 
> As always, come say hi:  
> brookutoh.tumblr.com


	4. You Are My Sunshine (Hinata Shouyou)

"So... you're Coach Ukai's niece then?" Hinata asked from across the table, mouth full of food.

You nodded while sipping your water, "My mum's his older sister. They're ten years apart."

You watched as he counted with his fingers, face scrunched up in confusion, "So that would make you... uh, fifteen?"

"Sixteen." You corrected.

His face fell slightly, "You're older than me!"

You took another bite of your food and giggled slightly at the dejected expression on his face. You enjoyed his company, and his energy was contagious. You found yourself smiling more while talking to him, and the nerves that had gripped you during your arrival the previous day had almost completely disappeared. It was an easy friendship, and you felt as if you could tell him things not even your best friend back home knew about.

"I guess so," you began, "When's your birthday?"

"June 21st."

You hummed, "That makes sense." When he tilted his head in confusion, you elaborated. "June 21st is the Summer Solstice, right? And Hinata means 'sunny place'. It fits."

The boy in front of you brightened considerably. It was like looking into the sun, and you tried to remember if you'd packed sunglasses because half the time you needed them just to have a conversation with him. "Woah!" He beamed, "It does!"

You laughed some more. He was so easy to impress, and you made a mental note to do so as many times as possible. You looked down to your plate, finishing your dinner with one more forkful. By now almost everyone had left the canteen, going off to practice by themselves or simply just messing around. You could hear a loud voice not far from the building you were in, joined by another that was definitely nowhere near the volume of the first but still pretty noisy. You couldn't be sure, but you had a feeling the voices belonged to the respective captains of Fukuroudani and Nekoma, who had yet to be introduced to you but you'd quickly learned that they got along well, but argued almost constantly, as you could hear now. 

You'd almost forgotten about Hinata, now also with an empty plate. He looked at you with a wide smile, "What are you going to do now?"

You honestly hadn't thought about it, but you had a few things you could do to pass the time. "I guess... I'll probably just find somewhere to read. I think the library's open." You hadn't explored the entire campus yet, but had seen a library earlier in the day, being used by some club to have a meeting.

"Oh!" He suddenly yelled, catching you off guard. He looked as if he'd had a brainwave. "You should come with me!"

That wasn't what you were expecting. "To...practice?" You definitely didn't feel like doing anything active, especially not straight after eating.

He furiously shook his head, "No, no! For a walk!"

That was also not what you were expecting. And something which you weren't entirely sure was allowed. "I don't think you should leave campus like that..."

"Can't you just ask Ukai?"

You blinked at his quick answer. Had he thought about this? Planned it? It had seemed like a sudden idea when he suggested it. "I...suppose I could. But he might not say yes. Also, what's in it for me?"

He thought for a second, "I'll buy you a meat bun!"

You almost laughed, "Hinata, we literally just had dinner. You want to buy more food?" You weren't sure if this boy ever stopped eating.

"Well, yes, but," he stopped and huffed out a breath. "If we have a walk then it'll burn off the food, right? So we can have a meat bun and then walk back here to burn off the meat bun!" He finished proudly, and your chest tightened slightly at how cute he was.

You sighed and gave in, "Fine." You would definitely need sunglasses for the smile you got in return.

***

"A walk?"

"Uh, yeah?"

You watched as your Uncle sighed, a large puff of smoke leaving his mouth courtesy of the cigarette. "I guess that's alright." He said. "Who are ya goin' with?"

"Hinata. He said he'd buy me a meat bun."

Keishin laughed heartily. "That sounds like him. Yeah, that's fine, but make sure he doesn't get ya lost."

"I have my phone," you pointed out. "GPS is a thing you know."

"Quit treating me like I'm old!"

You cackled and walked away, sauntering over to where the boys' dorms were. You vaguely knew which one belonged to Karasuno, and were about to knock on that door, when you heard a voice from inside the room mention your name.

"Nah, I haven't spoken to her yet. Just wait though, once I do she won't be able to keep her hands off me."

"Ha, in your dreams Ryuu. Once  _I_ show her my amazing libero skills, she'll fall in love."

"Pffshh yeah okay, I-hey wait a minute, Hinata where are you headed?"

"Hmm? Oh, on a walk." A voice you instantly recognised as Hinata's answered.

"We're allowed to leave campus?" That was the first voice again, you're pretty sure you'd heard the currently unknown person call him Ryuu.

"Well, she's checking with her Uncle now, but hopefully he'll say yes." Hinata said matter-of-factly.

There was silence inside the room, and you were about to break it by knocking when you heard Ryuu's voice again. "You bastard! Let us come!"

"What? No!" Hinata yelled back. "Besides, don't you two have to practice?"

"Don't  _you_ have to practice, Hinata?" The unknown voice said.

"Daichi said I could go for a short walk."

The two boys groaned and you took that as your cue to interrupt. "Hey, Hinata?" You called after knocking softly, "Uncle Keishin said it was fine. Are you ready?"

"Yep!" You heard him call back, and then the door was suddenly opened to reveal Hinata, plus two of Karasuno's players that you hadn't met yet. You knew the small one with the blond bit of hair was a special player, although you weren't exactly sure what made him special other than wearing a different uniform. The other was one you'd mentally nicknamed 'crew cut', and you knew he was a good spiker but that was as far as that description went. Both boys were looking at you wide-eyed, and you waved sheepishly at them, watching as they blushed heavily and waved back. The boy in front of you didn't seem to notice, instead yelling "Let's go!" and making off down the corridor.

Being outside was nice, the air was warm despite the fact it was evening and Hinata was excitedly telling you stories, mostly consisting of volleyball. You found yourself giggling at almost every word he said, loving his seemingly never-ending store of energy. You didn't mind letting him do all the talking, in fact you were glad of it, and he seemed happy enough to talk for both of you. 

You'd been walking for fifteen minutes when you reached the top of a hill you hadn't known you'd been climbing. "Maybe we just head back now?" You suggested, not wanting to go too far from the campus. Thankfully you could see signs pointing towards Shiratorizawa Academy, so you knew you wouldn't be getting lost. 

He seemed slightly dejected as he agreed, but brightened up suddenly. "Let's go get meat buns!"

You laughed, "Alright. I think we passed a convenience store." You were right, and retracing your steps brought you to that very same store. You waited outside as the small boy dipped in to buy the food. You hadn't thought he could smile as wide as he did when he was handing you your bun.

"You must like these, huh?" You asked conversationally, taking a bite.

He nodded eagerly, "Daichi buys them for us after practice. From your Uncle's shop, actually!"

You swallowed, "I didn't know Uncle Keishin's shop sold them."

"It does! They're even better than these ones!"

You hummed, before suddenly remembering something. "I'll be staying with him, actually. After the training camp, I mean."

He practically jumped up and down. "Really?"

You giggled, "Yeah, my mum's in hospital for two weeks, so she'll be getting out after camp's ended, meaning I'll be living with Keishin for the last few days."

"We should get meat buns together!"

"Yeah, I'd like that." And then he beamed, seriously beamed. Your eyes watered with the intensity of his smile and you started to wonder if he was some kind of sun-child, because you'd never experienced anything like this before. Your heart thumped painfully against your ribcage at the sight. 

A beep sounded from your pocket, and you lifted your phone out to see that your Uncle had texted you. Reading it, you groaned. "What's wrong?" Hinata asked, suddenly concerned. This boy's emotions changed so quickly it was giving you whiplash.

You showed your phone to him and watched his face grow red as he took in the words,  _'Oi, you'd better start heading home soon. Sorry to cut your date short but if you want you can continue it on campus ;)'_  "Sorry about him, he likes to tease."

"It's fine haha!" He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. 

There was a question in your mind, and you wondered if you should ask it. Breathing deeply, you decided to take the plunge. "Did you... want it to be a date?"

He froze, and you were about to backtrack, to laugh it off as a joke, until you heard his quiet voice, "I guess, I'd like it to be."

You exhaled, not realising you'd been holding your breath. You smiled at him, "Then, it's a date." The answering grin you received made your heart stop, and as you walked through the campus hand-in-hand, your meat buns long eaten, you heard several groans and you even passed the teary faces of Karasuno's crew cut and special-uniform-guy. You weren't too sure why they seemed so upset, but as you saw the happy face of the boy you were holding hands with, you decided it didn't matter. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, Hinata is SO CUTE. I tried to keep this as sweet as possible, because Hinata is definitely someone who wouldn't kiss on the first date. He probably sweated buckets just holding hands. Jesus take the wheel this boy should be illegal.
> 
> Yoooo come say hi:  
> brookutoh.tumblr.com


	5. And All That Jazz (Yamamoto Taketora)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does the chapter title have anything to do with the chapter? No it doesn't.  
> Did I just use the most prominent lyric in the first song of my favourite musical? Yes I did.
> 
> Alternate Title: Reader-chan is a Massive Sadist and Rebecca SoManyButts Managed to Write 2200 Words of Pure Trash

Sunday may be a holy day, but Dear Lord were you ready to fuck shit up.

How you'd managed to make it this far without causing someone severe bodily harm was beyond you. You honestly deserved several medals.

It was the last day of training camp, and therefore the last time you may ever see some of these boys again. You weren't too upset about that fact. Anyone who you'd been able to form an actual friendship with had given you their number with a promise to stay in contact, and you promised the same. Of course that meant all the managers, because sharing a room with a bunch of girls, even strangers, for nearly two weeks meant that you're all now practically best friends. You'd even become friends with some of the boys, with names such as Suga, Daichi, Hinata, Kenma, Yamaguchi, Iwaizumi, Akaashi and Asahi now appearing in your contact list. You'd found them all to be great people to talk to, even with Kenma and Akaashi's quiet natures you had still been able to hold meaningful conversations. You loved Hinata's excitement and energy, finding it almost addictive. He was also exceptionally good at cheering you up. The other five were very kind people, even Iwaizumi - who you'd first thought was quite brash - was a person you thought of as an amazing friend. You were glad you'd met them, and even gladder that you'd get to keep in touch with them all.

But despite all that, you were pissed. You were _so_ pissed. And the reason for that was because for the past week and a half you'd been subjected to confession after confession. The first one to get you was Oikawa. You didn't believe him at first, but when he gushed for a while about how beautiful you were (and you tried your hardest to keep your lunch down), you begged him to stop, before telling him that no, sorry, but you weren't interested. He seemed a lot more upset than you'd imagined he'd be, which was when he'd explained the competition to you.

You had been...shocked, to say the least. You hadn't thought you'd made that much of an impact on the group of strangers but yet, they had started competing for your hand. The part of you that was still sceptical about the whole thing quietened down when you received another confession, and then another. By now you knew that all eight of the friends you'd made on the teams had been a part in it, but thankfully only two had actually made a move. First had been Hinata, who was understandably upset when you said no, but seemed ecstatic when you told him you could be friends instead. That was how your friendship began. The second one was Iwaizumi, who you'd been talking to ever since Oikawa's confession when the ace apologised that his best friend wouldn't leave you alone. He made what you considered to be a casual confession, like he'd been talking about the weather. You really were sorry that you didn't feel the same way, and he waved it off, stating that he'd known your answer but wanted to give it a try anyway.

It wasn't even the fact that you'd been confessed to so many times that made you angry today, it was because the one person who you actually  _wanted_ to confess to you had been avoiding you like the plague the whole time. And this annoyed you, not just because he hadn't even spoken to you, but because this person was the co-orchestrator of the entire competition. You'd already dealt with Tanaka, his confession filled with nerves that you honestly found a little cute, but you couldn't help but compare him to the one you actually liked, and this was the problem.

Yes, you were in love with Yamamoto. You were in love with him, and you weren't even sure why. He definitely wasn't your usual type, being loud and boisterous when you preferred quiet and calm, he had quite a big mouth when you tended to like people who were more reserved. Not to mention his hair, you weren't even sure what that hairstyle was called, some kind of...flattened mohawk? You weren't sure, but it definitely wasn't the kind you'd normally go for. Honestly, if it'd been Akaashi you'd understand, but this guy? He just left you feeling confused.

Confused, and kind of breathless. At this point you were fed up of the way your heart would hammer against your ribs any time he was nearby, or the way your chest would tighten and you could feel your lungs constricting. It was more of a nuisance than anything else. 

But it was the last day. Everyone was set to leave via their designated bus at noon, meaning you had exactly two hours to have a final walk around the school and pack up everything you needed. Well, you had everything packed, and you'd walked around the school so many times you could probably do so blindfolded. You had one last objective you needed to complete before it was too late: find Yamamoto, and confess to him. Yes, you were planning on completely turning this competition around. 

As you finished tying your shoelaces in the room that you'd called home for the last eleven days, you were determined to go through with your plan. It wouldn't be difficult to find him, the only problem would be getting him to actually talk to you long enough to get out the words you wanted to say. 

You stepped out into the corridor, noticing that almost every room's door was open, probably to let some air in after they'd been used by so many people. And boys, at that. You walked to the room three doors down from your own, Nekoma's room, and peeked in. Kenma was there, as well as a few others still milling around and packing up their stuff. You walked over to the boy sitting on a windowsill playing his 3DS.

"Yo," you greeted, and he glanced up at you before returning his eyes to the screen and continuing to play.

"He's not here," he said, and you spluttered. The small smirk you received in response to your reaction told you he had you figured out completely. Unsurprising really, given how observant he was. "I haven't seen him all day."

You stopped. "Really?" That was odd, but then again Kenma did tend to wake up later than most.

"Mhm. Maybe he's at breakfast. You wanna go?" He asked. You nodded and watched him pause his game, before closing the lid and hopping off the sill. The two of you walked in relative silence to the canteen, but it wasn't awkward or stifling, and you were glad.

The canteen was full of people but, you noticed as you looked around, not the one you were hoping to find. You supposed his outrageous hair was useful in this regard, as it made picking him out of a crowd quite easy. You grabbed yourself a plate and started loading it with food, Kenma doing the same next to you, and once you'd finished you found yourselves being waved over to a table by Akaashi, the quiet setter already seated with his noisy captain, lost in a heated argument with Kuroo about something you didn't want to bother asking.

"Kenma!" You heard the catlike captain cheer, his argument apparently stalled for the time being. "I thought you weren't hungry."

"I wasn't," the boy in question replied.

Kuroo clicked his tongue before turning his attention towards you. "What did you do to get him to come?"

"I didn't do anything," you informed him. "In fact, it was Kenma who suggested getting breakfast."

"Only because you wanted to look for-" he stopped himself, eating a bit of pancake instead of continuing his sentence.

The two captains looked utterly confused, but the understanding noise from directly opposite you told you that Akaashi had figured out exactly what was going on. You watched him and Kenma share a knowing look, and you wanted to faceplant directly into your scrambled eggs. They knew. They knew and you were going to die.

You listened to the four boys start up a conversation about something you couldn't care less while you finished your breakfast, excusing yourself and trying to fight your blush when Kenma wished you good luck and Akaashi sent you a wink. You weren't sure where to go to find Yamamoto, so you decided to check the Nekoma dorm one more time just in case he'd turned up.

No such luck. The room was empty, save for the bags lying here and there, plus the futons that had yet to be moved. You groaned, why was this boy so hard to find? You had just resigned yourself to checking the entirety of the school's campus when you heard a voice calling your name from the corridor.

"Tanaka?" You called, poking your head out to see that very same person jogging towards you.

"I was looking for you! Come on," he said, grabbing your wrist and pulling you along behind him.

You sighed and decided to just run with it. You knew this couldn't be a confession, considering you'd already received his and, as far as you were aware, the rules of the competition prohibited them from confessing more than once. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope!" You'd figured as much.

You followed along behind the other boy until you reached a door leading into one of the gyms. At this point he moved behind you and covered your eyes. "Sorry," he whispered. "But it's a surprise."

You swallowed down another sigh, hoping that this had better be good. You heard the gym door being opened by someone who clearly wasn't Tanaka, considering both of his hands were blocking your vision, so you silently wondered how many people were involved in this. You hoped not many, you didn't mind surprises but the thought of your reactions being watched by an audience made you feel a bit nauseous.

As Tanaka led you to where you felt was the middle of the room and stopped, you started hearing some shuffling from in front of you, and your anxiety started to spike. "Okay," you heard the boy behind you say. "I'm going to lift my hands off but you have to keep your eyes closed, alright?" You nodded and felt as the weight was lifted, vision lightening from pitch black to grey. 

You heard his footsteps move away, and then he finally said, "You can open them."

You obediently opened your eyes, and nearly fainted at the sight in front of you. The very same boy you'd been looking for was right there, with that ridiculous hairstyle and stern, almost scary features on his face. But what made your heart squeeze was the heavy blush on both his cheeks, the fact that he was looking at the floor and nowhere near you, and also what he had in his hand that was thrust slightly towards you: a bouquet of roses. Christ, you weren't sure how much more of this you could take. You were already pretty positive you'd had a heart attack since opening your eyes, if the pain in your chest was any indication.

Hesitantly, you took the flowers from him. They were beautiful, and you couldn't help yourself from taking a sniff. Not that roses have a distinctive smell, but you hummed pleasantly anyway. "Thank you," you started. "Roses are my favourite." It was a lie, you didn't really have a favourite, but you did like them, and they were a mixture of white and red roses which looked amazing. 

He still hadn't looked at you, so you decided to take matters into your own hands. Turning around with a smirk, you targeted the boy you wanted. "Hey, Tanaka, get over here a second." He obliged with a look of confusion, and when he reached you you held out the flowers to him. "Can you hold these for me?" He did so, still pretty confused. You turned fully to Yamamoto once your hands had been freed, placing a finger under his chin and turning his face to look at you. He reluctantly met your eyes and swallowed nervously. "Now," you started. "I've been looking for you all morning. Do you know why?" He shook his head. He looked terrified now but you weren't going to stop, you were enjoying this too much. "I've been trying to find you so I could confess." You purred.

You smirked some more at how much his eyes widened in response. "R-Really?" He asked weakly.

"Mhm. So, Tora, what are you going to do about it?" You hadn't meant to use his nickname, but when it slipped out you saw the way he shivered in response and decided you'd have to call him that more often.

There were a few things you expected him to do, or rather, say. You hadn't really imagined him to grab your face and furiously fix his lips against yours. But, you decided as you drowned in the kiss, you were glad for the surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You wanna go?" Asked Kenma. You did. You were ready. Today was the day you would fight Kozume Kenma. And today you would win.
> 
> Also fun fact: Bokuto, Akaashi, Kuroo and Kenma are my ultimate favourite characters in Haikyuu, and when their chapters come up I'm going to write all my feelings and probably cry a lot in the process (You may also have noticed that I've mentioned Bokuto in some way or another in every chapter so far, and that's not going to stop any time soon).
> 
> Second fun fact: I was so close to making Yamamoto completely naked for the confession, but I realised he'd never go through with that, so I decided against it.


	6. Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones (Yaku Morisuke)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title may be from Rhianna's S&M but there's nothing of that sort here, it's Yaku after all and he's relatively innocent.
> 
> Okay so this took a little longer than usual, and it would've been up around midnight yesterday (Wednesday) morning, but it got deleted on me and honestly I cried. I only got time today to re-write because school and Deadpool watching (ie. one of my fave movies of all time) so I'm sorry, but here it is!

You're not entirely sure when it had started, but the casual glances, coy smiles and occasional winks sent your way by the Nekoma player had started to become a regular occurrence for you, and you were secretly hoping he'd hurry up and voice the feelings you were almost certain he had.

You internally groaned as he sent a wink your way after receiving Johzenji's spike perfectly, his team celebrating yet another point. You had entered the gym when they had just begun their second set so as to catch the Karasuno and Date Tech game that had just begun. You had learnt from Kiyoko that Nekoma had won the first set, and from the current scores you could tell that the cat-like team would win, with only a few more points needed to clinch their victory.

A giggle from your right told you you weren't the only one who'd seen the exchange between you and the libero. You looked up to see that, just as you'd predicted, Yachi was looking over to the other court with a hand covering her mouth and a blush on her cheeks. When she realised you'd spotted her however, she quickly snapped her gaze to the floor and returned her hand to her clipboard. "Sorry," she said quietly. "It's just...Yaku-san really likes you, doesn't he?"

"Does he?" You asked, thinking that she was probably right but not really wanting to admit it. After all, from what you knew of the boy, he wasn't the type to flirt with just anyone. Actually, if you were being honest he didn't really seem like the type to flirt at all. Up until he started his barrage of teasing a few days ago you'd imagined him to be another version of Suga, with maybe a bit more confidence and at times (each and every one of those times the result of something Lev had said), a quicker temper. 

Yachi merely nodded, "I-I think so." You didn't press further, knowing that she'd want to focus on Karasuno's match. You did too, until loud cheering from the other court made you look over and see that just as you'd predicted, Nekoma had won. Without fully realising what you were doing, your eyes sought out one short libero and you nearly smacked yourself when you saw he was already looking your way, the boy then proceeding to bite his lip,  _bite his fucking lip_ , and wink at you once more. You weren't having that.

Leaning over to your left, you whispered to your Uncle, "I'm stepping out for a bit," receiving a grunt in response. Taking it as a noise of agreement, you got up from the bench and made your way over to the door. Before exiting, however, you decided to change things up a bit. You turned around and noticed that Yaku's eyes were still on you, having apparently followed your movement across the gym. You quickly looked behind you and back to him, raising your eyebrow in a question. He smiled widely and nodded, and you sent him a wink for good measure,  _two can play at_ that  _game_ , and stepped outside.

When he joined you five minutes later you were leaning against the wall to the right of the gym door. His smile from before hadn't disappeared and you couldn't get over how adorable he looked, suddenly a completely different person to the flirtatious tease he'd been for the past few days. "You wanna go for a walk?" You asked nonchalantly, managing to keep a calm expression despite the butterflies in your stomach.

"Sure," he replied. "Wh-Where to?" You suppressed a smirk when the stutter betrayed the fact that he was as nervous as you.

"Hmmm, not sure. Let's just wander for a bit."

"Okay," he smiled as you started walking, falling into an easy pace as you travelled slowly around the campus. "I bet you know your way around the entire school, right?"

You laughed. "Like the back of my hand. I tend to explore while you guys are playing. I don't mind watching your matches, really, but most of the time I just want to be alone."

He hummed, and the two of you continued in a comfortable silence until you'd gotten close to the main school building, where the majority of classrooms, including the ones being used as makeshift dormitories, were housed. You gasped as an idea hit you. "How would you like to see something weird?"

"Uh, okay." You grinned and grabbed his wrist, pulling him in through the door, then dragging him down the corridor, up a large set of stairs, along the corridor, through a door, across an empty room, through another door, up a small wooden staircase, along a landing, and then finally through a heavy door that required quite some effort to push open.

Inside was a wide room with wooden floors and white walls, one of them being a complete mirror spanning from floor to ceiling, with a fixed ballet barre mounted on top. A portable barre was sitting abandoned over by the opposite wall, the windows directly above it illuminating the specks of dust floating in the air, as well as highlighting the layer of dust which had settled both on the portable barre and the floor.

"They have a ballet studio here?" Yaku asked, seemingly just as shocked as you had been upon first discovering this place.

"Apparently," you laughed and walked over to the mirror, sitting on the floor with your back against it and waving him over to do the same. Once he'd taken a seat beside you, you continued. "But here's the weird part: I asked Ushijima about it, but he didn't even know there was a studio in the school. He also said there hasn't been a ballet club or team or whatever the whole time he's been coming to school here. And then some of the others from Shiratorizawa said that there's no evidence of there ever being a club, because most sports clubs have pictures or trophies around the school, but there's nothing like that for ballet."

"That is weird," he agreed. He was silent for a few seconds before frowning. "You...asked Ushijima?"

"Hm? Ah yeah, I did."

"D-did he confess to you?"

You turned to him fully, staring at him in confusion. "Yeah, he did actually. How'd you know?"

He paled a little. "Lucky guess. What was your answer?"

"No, obviously." You heard a little sigh from him, and you wondered if it was relief. "I'm not going to date a guy I don't really like, besides-" You shut your mouth when you heard a noise. You couldn't be sure, but it had sounded a lot like footsteps. You stilled completely and strained your ears to hear it better, noticing Yaku do the same from the corner of your eye. You were about to relax and write it off as being nothing when you heard it again. It was definitely footsteps, and they were getting closer. Then you heard voices.

"You're sure she came this way?" That was a man's voice, and you didn't recognise it. One look over to Yaku told you you weren't the only one.

"Positive, all the doors leading to here were wide open," another one answered. You mentally chided yourself for your carelessness. 

"Wasn't there a guy with her?" A third asked.

"Yeah, but he won't be a problem. We can deal with him easily, so long as we get the girl." The second one replied casually.

A telltale creaking sound alerted you to the fact that they were climbing the old rickety staircase, meaning they'd be at the door in just a few seconds. You knew from their conversation just what they were after, and you also had a feeling they weren't the kind of people who took no for an answer. Your eyes frantically scanned the room looking for somewhere to hide, a way to escape, anything, but there was nothing. And soon it was too late.

You looked over to the door as you heard them begin to open it, realising that in the time you'd been looking wildly around the room Yaku had moved from beside you to just in front of the door, so when it finally opened to reveal the three men - who seemed to be a few years older than you and not very friendly - the first one was greeted by a swift kick to the legs from the libero, the shock of the sudden attack causing the man to lose his footing and crash to the ground in the doorway. The other two had to step over him to get in but they did so anyway, completely furious. You were terrified, but watched as they faltered for a second, and when you looked at Yaku you understood why.

The boy was utterly seething. Eyes ablaze, fists clenched, head low and glaring at the two guys before him. They nodded to each other and split, one walking over to you and grabbing your wrist, pulling you painfully upright. You winced at the vice-like grip he had on you, and as he looked down at you with a shit-eating grin and a manic look in his eyes, you felt ready to give up.

Yaku, who had taken a step forward as soon as he realised that you were the man's target, was now being blocked by the two remaining males, the one who had previously been on the floor taking his position behind the teenager. "Relax kid," the first man said, poking Yaku in the shoulder from behind. "We won't trouble you. We just want your girlfriend." The way he pointed at you while saying 'girlfriend' made you feel more like a piece of meat than someone who was actually wanted. 

"Don't you fucking touch her," Yaku spat out through gritted teeth. You felt your heart lurch and you could've smiled if not for the terror of your current situation.

"Don't worry," the one holding your wrist breathed out. "We'll take reeeeal good care of her." His other hand started moving, and you could clearly see the path it would take, and where it would end up, or rather, on which body part it would end up on. You felt nauseous, you felt disgusting, you didn't want this, you were going to throw up, you knew it.

All five occupants of the room froze as loud voices sprang up directly beneath you. You felt tears of relief welling up in your eyes as you realised that everyone was heading back to the dorms before lunch. The hand that had been on its way to you had stilled in mid-air, and when you figured out that he'd probably continue its journey in a second, you made a decision. Taking a deep breath, you screamed at the top of your lungs, praying to every deity you could think of that the walls of this room weren't soundproof.

They weren't.

The voices stopped immediately. There was a second of pure silence before chaos began. It sounded like every voice on the floor below you had started shouting your name, but you couldn't answer back because the stilled hand had moved almost as soon as you'd started screaming, acting as a gag and cutting off your voice. You looked over and saw that Yaku had been gagged too, to prevent him from continuing where you'd left off. But you quickly found out he wouldn't need to.

You started sobbing when you heard the stairs creak, prayers of thanks now being sent out in your thoughts when the first ones to enter the room were Tanaka and Yamamoto. Things were a bit of a blur after that, quite literally considering the tears in your vision. You were vaguely aware of the hands leaving your face and wrist because as soon as you were let go your knees buckled and you slid down to the floor. New hands then replaced the one that had been on your face, softer than the last and much more gentle. You smiled softly as you felt your tears being wiped away and soothing words being whispered in your ear. You started to come back to consciousness when you felt something warm on your temple and you realised it had been a kiss. As you blinked the blurriness from your eyes Yaku's face came into view, and you looked up to see a few dozen others looking at you worriedly, including that of your Uncle. You couldn't see your attackers from your current position, figuring that they were being obscured by the amount of people in the room or they'd been moved somewhere else.

"Y-Yaku?" You asked weakly, not finishing your question but not really needing to.

He nodded. "We're just waiting for the police to show up now. How are you feeling?"

You thought for a minute. "Fuzzy."

He chuckled quietly. "You gave us all a bit of a scare there," he said, then dropped his voice so only you would hear it. "Me in particular."

Your breath hitched, and you reached out a hand to touch his face, brushing your thumb over his lips. He pursed them in response, giving the digit a light kiss. In that moment you decided you couldn't take it any more, and quickly replaced your hand with your mouth, just giving him a small peck seeing as you were in public, but still one which conveyed all your emotions. You heard some annoyed mumbles from the others in the room, but elected to ignore them in favour of the boy in front of you. You knew you had a long situation ahead of you, knew that as soon as the police arrived you'd be hit with question after question, but, you decided, as long as Yaku was with you through everything, it wouldn't be too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's such a cheesy ending I'm going to cry.
> 
> I laughed so hard while writing the screaming bit because I remembered that in Primary School when we were out on the playground at break and lunch we used to see who could scream the loudest and the shrillest and I was always the champion. So yes folks, even at a young age I was a screamer ( ͡° ͜ ʖ ͡° )


	7. Boy, You're My Lucky Star (Oikawa Tooru)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course the alien nerd gets a chapter title of a lyric from E.T. (Katy Perry).
> 
> I'm so pumped for this chapter actually because Oikawa is my birthday twin along with Nagisa from Assassination Classroom, and I don't know anyone in real life with the same birthday as me so I put all the birthday emotions onto those two instead.
> 
> ALSO I know in the last chapter I referred to Yachi as Yachi, but in this one there's more interaction with the girls so they'll all be given their first names.

You were on a cruise ship, currently traversing the Mediterranean Sea. You asked the captain - where did the captain come from, you were in your room not two seconds ago - about your next stop, and he informed you that you'd be stopping in Poland. You were pretty sure Poland didn't have a coast on the Mediterranean, but this man was the captain so he was obviously right. In fact, yes that's right, you remembered now. Poland was right next to Italy, where it had always been. Silly you. You went to ask the captain how long it would take to get there, but suddenly it wasn't the sea captain in front of you, it was a boy. You'd seen him before, but couldn't put a name to the face. He had chocolate-brown hair styled to sweep outwards, as well as brown eyes. He was pretty, and looked just like a model. He grinned at you while you observed him, and you were going to say something but felt yourself being nudged. It wasn't the boy nudging you, but you went to ask what he was doing before your vision dissipated.

A dream. Well, that explained a lot. You slowly opened your eyes and saw that the room you were in was quite bright, meaning it was morning. You had to blink a few times to adjust to the light, and when you were able to open them fully without wincing, you saw a small blonde girl leaning over your futon. She laughed nervously, "S-Sorry for waking you up like that, but I didn't think you'd want to miss breakfast."

You were confused until you remembered that you were at a training camp, and this girl was one of the managers who you were sharing a room with. You smiled at her and she seemed to relax, "You're right, I definitely don't want to miss breakfast. Thanks, Hitoka."

She nodded and darted off, presumably to get ready. You did the same, pulling on a simple t-shirt and shorts. It was sunny outside, and the room was warm and stuffy despite the fact that both windows had been opened to allow a breeze in. It was Thursday, your first morning at the camp. You'd slept surprisingly well last night, although you did wish it had been in a bed rather than a futon. The other girls in the room were waiting on you by the door, and you were thankful because you barely remembered the way to the door of this building, let alone to the canteen which was housed in a separate building altogether. After all, you'd only been there once, for dinner the night before.

The girls happily chatted to you while you walked, each expressing how much they wished they were able to wear ordinary clothes like you, because being managers they were forced to wear their gym clothes. You thought back to the day before, and how you'd met them.

After introducing yourself to everyone yesterday, you'd immediately been surrounded by seven girls, who you discovered would be your roommates for the rest of the camp. They had talked to you non-stop through dinner, and you'd learnt a lot about their respective teams. Kiyoko and Hitoka were managers for your Uncle's team, and when you relayed some of the information you'd received from him, such as there being a powerful libero, a genius setter, and an amazing decoy, you were given a run-through of each and every one of Karasuno's players and what was so great about them. When that finished Yukie and Kaori started complaining about their captain - something which shocked you at first, but when they went on to explain about his mood swings, noise levels and 'dejected mode', you kind of understood. Hana laughed at that and decided to one-up them, proceeding to complain about her entire team, with Runa nodding at pauses in the other manager's speech. Apparently their team was known as a 'party team', and by the end of it you sympathised completely with the two girls. Mai was the only one who didn't really talk much, saying simply that she was proud of her team and their blocking abilities, being called the 'Iron Wall'. The eight of you had talked some more before going to sleep, and it had felt like a huge slumber party. You were glad that your fears of not making any friends had been put to rest, although you hadn't really spoken to any of the boys yet.

Now, on the way to get breakfast, you heard the girls complaining once again, but this time it was about a boy called Oikawa Tooru. You were vaguely familiar with the name, having heard it being mentioned by your Uncle in passing when he talked volleyball with you. You couldn't picture him though, but when you heard Hana say that he was "too damn pretty", you laughed and secretly hoped you could soon put a face to the name.

Hitoka linked arms with you as your group got closer to the canteen building. You smiled down at her, thanking the other girl for remembering your words last night about getting anxious in such a big room filled with so many people. You squeezed her hand, knowing she was just as nervous as you, as you walked through the open door and into what you now referred to as 'The Pit'. Instantly you felt eyes on you and all conversations in the room died down. You gulped and quickly looked around to see that a few of the boys were looking everywhere but at you and were blushing quite heavily.

"Why are they all staring at me?" You whispered to Hitoka, who looked just as terrified as you felt. She shook her head.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yukie answered instead, piling bacon onto her plate. She clicked her tongue. "You're too pretty, they don't know what to do about it. My guess is that most of them already have a crush."

You weren't sure how to take that. Your first instinct told you she was joking but the look in her eyes said otherwise. You kept your gaze to the floor as you tried your best to ignore the sensation of being watched, walking over to an empty table at the wall opposite the door that you seated yourselves at. You had your back to the rest of the occupants of the room, but still you had the neck-prickling feeling of having an audience. "Are they still looking at me?" You asked the others. You received several nods in response and groaned.

Slowly the feeling went away, and you were able to eat your breakfast while listening to the girls talk, occasionally joining in with the conversations. But then you heard Hana stop mid-sentence and looked up to see her sporting a pained expression, looking over at the door. You followed her gaze and nearly choked on your food when you saw who she was looking at. 

The boy from your dream had just walked into the room. As gorgeous as a model, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a happy smile on his face. You watched his eyes dart around the room before landing on you, and then his smile grew wider and he winked. You were sure your face was bright red. "Jesus Christ," you heard Yukie say behind you. "Looks like Oikawa's got a crush on you, too." If you hadn't already swallowed the food you'd been chewing, you would've definitely choked that time.

Your head snapped around and you stared at the girl across from you. " _That's_ Oikawa?" You nearly yelled, but managed to keep some semblance of calm in your voice. 

She grinned, "Yep, that's him. Remember what Hana said about him being too pretty?"

You looked at the girl sitting next to Yukie and frowned. "You were right. He should be illegal."

Your entire table started laughing, and you knew the rest of the room was definitely looking at you now, but for a different reason entirely. Beside you, Hitoka peeked over towards the food counter, "He keeps glancing over at you," she told you.

"Maybe you should talk to him," Kiyoko suggested from your other side. 

Yukie nodded eagerly, "Hey, yeah you should! I heard his last girlfriend broke up with him because he was spending too much time playing volleyball, but the whole reason you two know each other is _because_ of volleyball, so it might work out!"

"Didn't you say he was kind of a dick?" You pointed out, remembering their conversation from earlier.

"Only during a game. In real life he's not so bad, or so I hear." You bit your lip, unsure. She sighed. "You've finished your orange juice, right?" You nodded. "Then go up and get some more. Quickly, while he's still hanging around there."

You took a deep breath and got up, walking over to where the food was laid out. The boy in question was filling up a glass with apple juice when you sidled up next to him and as casually as you could (which wasn't very casual considering how badly your hands were shaking) you started filling up your own with orange. 

"Hi there," he said and you almost dropped the jug you were holding when you heard him speak. You began to wonder if this was what people talked about when they said someone was 'sex on legs', when he softly cleared his throat, and you snapped out of your daze.

"Sorry, sorry," you apologised, carefully setting the jug back down. "Uh, hi," you said lamely.

He smiled again,  _Lord make him stop_ , and stuck out his hand, "I'm Oikawa, but you can call me Tooru." You took his hand and were about to say your own name when you heard a low whistle from behind you. 

"He doesn't let  _anyone_ call him that. He must really like you," you turned and saw another boy with spiky brown hair, thick eyebrows and green eyes standing behind you. 

"Iwa-channn!" Tooru whined. "Don't be so meannn." You giggled and Tooru pouted and crossed his arms, "Don't take his side!" 

You held your hands up, "Hey, I'm not taking anyone's side."

The other boy, Iwa-chan you presumed, walked away with a smirk leaving you and Tooru alone again. He brightened suddenly as if he'd just thought of something, "Are you going to watch the matches today?"

You hummed and took a sip from your glass, "Depends on who's playing. I was hoping to explore for a bit though, it's a really nice day."

"You should watch mine! We're playing in the second game today, against Nekoma."

"Alright, I will." He grinned and you parted, him going to sit next to the other guy, Iwa-chan, and you heading back to your own seat, being hit with a dozen questions, as well as a few remarks about how much of a tease you were. You spluttered and flailed a bit at that, only to be met with laughter from the other girls. 

***

"Sooo? What did you think?" 

"Of your match? It was okay," you giggled as he pouted in response. "Alright, alright. It was amazing. You're kind of scary when you play, but it's a good kind of scary."

Tooru stopped walking next to you, looking at you curiously. "What's a good kind of scary?"

"Hmm, like when you're watching a movie and the main character turns evil in it. They're scary, but it's kind of... endearing? You know, because they're still the protagonist and all."

He laughed and continued walking, "You find it endearing that I'm scary?"

"I guess so?" 

He thought for a minute, "I just realised. You've been watching every single one of my matches since the one against Nekoma yesterday morning."

"I have?" You asked, then, "So I have. Your matches are just so much fun to watch."

"I'm glad."

There was silence for a few minutes before your curiosity overtook you. "Where are we going anyway?"

"It's a surprise~" he sang and began to swing your joined hands. You blushed slightly, glad that it was dark out and he wouldn't be able to see. When he'd come up to you a few hours after dinner and told you to go with him, you had been hesitant. But when he grabbed your hand and laced your fingers together your only option was to follow along. You had left campus about twenty minutes ago, and were now climbing a hill. You were slightly out of breath but tried your best not to show it. 

You rolled your eyes at his childishness and continued along after him, the two of you eventually reaching a lookout point. "Ta-da!" You were about to ask what was so great about a bench when he spun you around and you gasped. 

The streetlights on the road you'd been walking on had vanished about ten minutes ago, and the lack of light on the little platform you stood on meant that when you looked up at the sky you could've cried at the beauty of so many stars. There were millions of them, bright and sparkling, illuminated even more by the light of the full moon. There were no clouds to spoil the view either, meaning you could make out every little detail vividly.

You'd subconsciously walked to the railing at the edge of the lookout point, gripping the cold metal as you stared up in awe. You heard soft chuckling but paid it no mind as you continued to be mesmerised. You jumped slightly as warm arms suddenly encircled your waist from behind but relaxed when you felt Tooru's breath against your ear. "I'm glad you like it," he said softly. "It's not as beautiful as you, of course, but it's pretty damn close."

Your breath hitched at his words, heart thumping wildly in your chest. "T-Tooru?" You asked weakly.

"Mm?"

"Do you...l-like me?"

He was quiet for a moment, "No." You felt tears gathering in your eyes. "I'm almost positive...that I'm in love with you."

The tears spilled over, and you started laughing through them. "Ditto."

He joined your laughter before pulling you into a kiss that made your head spin and your knees give out, which would've been a bad thing if his strong arms weren't holding you upright. Your tears didn't stop however, and he pulled away from the kiss to wipe them off, giving you another peck for good measure. "As if the others weren't already jealous of my stunning good looks and amazing talents, now they'll be jealous of me for having a hot girlfriend." He mused.

You clicked your tongue, telling him "They'll live," and bringing his mouth down to meet yours again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be an M/F fanfic but I'm pretty sure this chapter is the gayest thing I've ever written. 
> 
> I have a lot of trouble imagining Oikawa liking girls too, even though he is canonically attracted to them, which is a bit awkward.


	8. How You Get the Girl (Iwaizumi Hajime)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you may have noticed I changed the rating to M, well that's because this chapter literally ends as Pre-Slash, and God am I lucky I was home alone while writing this because the amount of times I screamed at my dog about how I'm going to hell was unreal.
> 
> ((it's not that bad, i'm just a huge virgin who can't write anything remotely passionate))

"Oikawa, for the last time, I'm  _not_ interested." 

"But-"

You held up a hand to stop him. "But nothing. No, final answer."

"I really like you though!" He whined, pouting like a child.

You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose. "I know, you haven't stopped telling me. Look, I rejected you, doesn't that mean you're technically out of that stupid competition you told me about?"

"I don't care about the competition anymore!"

"Jesus," you mumbled under your breath. "Look,  _Tooru_ ," he flinched a little at the hostility in your voice. "You've asked me out at least ten times now, and each time I've said no. Do you really think that my answer's going to change any time soon?"

"Maybe?"

"No! It's not!" You were yelling now, completely fed up with the actions of the setter. "You continuing to come after me and constantly annoying me is only going to ensure that I  _never_ even  _consider_ dating you."

He looked hurt, but you honestly couldn't care less. He hadn't left you alone since your first morning at camp, spewing some bullshit about liking you and being sure that he could win some competition, which turned out to be all about confessing to you. You, however, had kindly rejected him, but he still hadn't left you alone. It had been three days since then and by this point you were ready to punch a wall. Or Oikawa, but you decided taking your anger out on something inanimate would have less consequences. 

You saw him think for a while, could practically hear the cogs turning in his head, and he opened his mouth to reply when a volleyball slammed into the side of his face. You didn't even flinch. Like you said, it had been three days of constant harassment, which - when it came to Oikawa - meant three days of having to be rescued by one Iwaizumi Hajime. You'd quickly learned that the best way for dealing with the childish captain was with violence, but because you were quite a pacifist (except of course for the aforementioned wanting to punch him in the face), you left it all to his best friend.

" _Ouch_ , Iwa-chan! That hurt!" He cried, holding his now red cheek with his hands and pouting even more. 

"Thanks, Iwa!" You called over to the approaching boy, who nodded to you in greeting.

He turned to Oikawa and pointed towards the gym doors, "In. Start practicing." The other male sniffed dramatically and slinked off, muttering angrily to himself. "Sorry about that," Iwaizumi started. "I should've kept a closer eye on him. Made sure he didn't come after you again."

"It's fine," you said, waving it off. "I can deal with him. He's annoying as hell, but it's a good thing you came when you did, I hate having to shout."

Iwaizumi chuckled, "He's such an idiot, you know."

"I figured that out," you laughed. "After the...third confession? I think?"

"No, I don't mean just because of that. I mean because he actually thinks he can get you."

You thought for a minute. "Well, that's not that surprising, is it?" He looked at you curiously, and you continued. "He's a pretty boy, right? Always getting fawned over by girls, being the centre of attention. He must be used to getting anyone he wants, so when it came to someone as boring and plain as me, of course he thought I would fall in love with him instantly."

Iwaizumi frowned, "You're n-" His words were cut short when Hanamaki called him in from the gym, telling him to start warming up before the game. He sighed, "I have to go. But you're not boring or plain at all. The reason he's an idiot for thinking he can get you is because you're so far out of his league. You're out of everyone's league to be perfectly honest, but yet we all decided to start some stupid competition thinking we'd all have a chance. I guess I'm an idiot too, then. Sorry," and with that he ran off, leaving you shocked and confused.

You stayed that way until Keishin slapped you on the back, "Close your mouth, you're lettin' the flies in." 

You snapped out of it and pouted at your Uncle, "How rude, I was contemplating."

He scoffed, "Sure you were. Karasuno's about to play, you wanna watch?"

"Nah," you shook your head. "I don't think being around boys will help me right now."

He raised his eyebrows, "Shit. It's _that_ kinda problem?"

"Mhm. Things just got weird, and I need to go think for a while."

"Damn. Alright then. But you know your fantastic Uncle is always here for advice."

"Yeah I know. I'll see you at dinner," you waved as he walked off, going to find a good spot to try and read in, although you knew you wouldn't be able to focus on the words. This would be a long couple of hours.

***

"Okay, explain this to me again." Yukie said, resuming her pacing along the floor of your bedroom.

"I've explained it  _five times already_ ," you whined.

"Just once more, I promise it's the last."

"Fine," you groaned. "Oikawa's been confessing to me since Thursday, you all knew that right?" You were met with nods from the other girls. "Okay, so, he explained that there was some kind of competition that some of the boys started because they all like me or whatever. The thing is, Oikawa didn't mention who the other boys were, just that there were like twenty of them, and I didn't really think about it too much.  _Except,_ when Iwa came to rescue me today, as he usually does, he mentioned that Oikawa was an idiot. And I was like 'yeah I know' but then he said 'you're way out of his league, you're way out of everyone's league, and we started this competition because we thought we could have a chance. That makes me an idiot too.' So now I'm left here wondering what the hell is going on, beause he practically admitted that he's part of this contest, which would mean he likes me, but he also said I was out of his league so I don't know what to do." You finished with a groan and slammed your face into your pillow. 

"Do you...like him?" Hana asked.

"No? Yes? Maybe? I don't really know."

"What would you do if he asked you out?" 

You imagined him confessing, the slight gruffness of his voice forming the words 'Please go out with me', a nervous smile on his face, his green eyes sparkling and his nose scrunching in that adorable way that just made your heart pou- "Shit!" You yelled. 

"I think that's a yes to the liking him question," Yukie stated with a laugh. 

"What do I do?" You asked the room helplessly. You saw the girls exchange looks before Hitoka spoke up from beside you.

"Do you want us to help?"

"No, no, this has nothing to do with you guys. This is my problem."

Yukie snorted. "Fuck  _that._ We're helping whether you like it or not."

"How?"

The Fukuroudani manager was about to answer when Kiyoko piped up, "Maybe we should leave this until morning. It's late, we should get to sleep." The rest of you nodded and settled in for the night, anxiety bubbling in your chest when you thought about what the other girls might have in store for you.

***

"I really don't think this is a good idea," you told Hana as she finished her ministrations.

"It's the  _best_ idea!" Yukie called over from the other side of the room. "He won't be able to control himself when he sees you!"

You gulped, "I'd prefer it if he did control himself though."

"It'll be fine, you look great!" Hitoka assured you. You had yet to decide if you believed her.

Currently, you were wearing a dress. A dress, plus high heels, plus makeup, plus your hair in an up-do. The dress was a simple summer dress with a cute floral print, but the shape was designed to show off your figure as well as make your boobs look bigger. The heels were there to make your legs look longer, the makeup - completely natural, making it seem like you weren't wearing any at all - highlighted your cheekbones and softened your jawline, and the hairstyle made you look much older, although you weren't sure why you needed that considering there was only a year between you and Iwaizumi. 

"It's a bit much, isn't it?" You pointed out as you looked in the mirror. "I mean, it's just lunch. Everyone'll stare at me when I walk into the canteen."

"That's why you're not going to the canteen," Hana said as if it were obvious. "You'll be hanging around the back of the canteen building, and  _we'll_ go in instead, grab Iwaizumi and direct him over to you. Simple."

"I still think it won't work," you sighed.

"Of course it will, just show him your womanly charms and he's a goner," Yukie said.

You decided there wasn't much point to arguing, instead giving in and allowing the other girls to drag you to your designated location. You were told to wait there,  _as if I'd go anywhere, it's a wonder I wasn't already seen on the way here_ , and then your friends disappeared, presumably to retrieve the victim in all this.

You didn't have to wait long before you heard footsteps and the questioning sound of Iwaizumi's voice. You steeled your nerves and took a deep breath. You saw him round the corner and freeze when he saw you. _Play it cool, just play it cool. Say something smooth_. "Hey Iwa," you called.  _Not exactly smooth but it'll do_.

"H-hey..."

"Are they gone?" You asked, gesturing towards where the other girls had been, and he looked around and nodded. You let out a sigh of relief, "Thank God. Sorry about them forcing you out here, I didn't want them to."

"It's okay," he cleared his throat. "You uh, you look nice."

You felt your cheeks heat up, "Th-Thanks. This was also their idea."

"It was a good one," he said and then smiled. Your heart started hurting.

You took another deep breath and decided to just go ahead and say what you'd planned to say, "I was thinking about what you said yesterday. About...me being out of everyone's league?" He nodded, slightly confused. "You...are you...uh, are you part of it? The competition, I mean?"

"You caught that, huh?" He laughed nervously. "Yeah, I am. Sorry."

"Don't be!" You blurted suddenly. He looked taken aback. "See, the thing is...i-if you wanted to confess, I'd be okay with that."

His breath hitched slightly, and he licked his lips. "Really?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Okay then...uh, I like you. I really, _really_ , like you. Would you go out with me? Maybe?"

You stepped closer to him and leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. "That's a yes," you whispered once you pulled back, but then you frowned.

He paused when he noticed your expression, "What's wrong?"

You sighed, "That wasn't good enough." You could see him panicking, probably wondering if you were talking about his confession. You laughed and leaned up again, this time capturing his lips instead. As soon as he started responding, you wasted no time in adding your tongue to the mix, quickly heating things up. You didn't even notice that the two of you had started walking until your back was pressed against the wall of the canteen building. You sucked on his lower lip and you weren't sure if you'd ever heard anything hotter than the moan he gave in response. Immediately his mouth left yours, and you were about to complain when it latched onto your jaw, leaving light kisses along it and down your neck.

"Hey Iwa," you panted as he started sucking a hickey into your skin. He hummed, "The girls made me wear lingerie under this dress."

You couldn't help but smirk when he groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY can i not write even the TINIEST make-out scene like @God why did you make me so easily embarrassed.


	9. And I'll Write Your Name (Aone Takanobu)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so when I was thinking up basic plots for each chapter (mostly just keywords) back before I started actually writing anything, I got to Aone and I was like wtf what should I do for him, and then I thought about how quiet he was and I was like....quiet people....libraries....books.... so yeah now I HC that Aone is a total bookworm so that's what all this is about.
> 
> Also I managed to write 2700 words without ever mentioning the competition, despite it being the main plot. Fantastic.

You'd fallen in love with the library the second you'd stepped foot inside it.

The warm carpeted floors, the old wooden bookcases, the worn leather sofas, the chipped paint on the walls and, most importantly, the rows and rows of books stacked on the shelves. It was heaven to you, and you'd quickly made yourself at home there.

You'd only been exploring for ten minutes on your first day when you had come across a sign on the corridor wall pointing you in the direction of the library, and you found yourself sprinting the rest of the way before bursting through the doors and sighing in relief. Fiction books, non-fiction books, sci-fi books, fantasy books, history books, geography books, even the dictionaries made your heart beat loudly. You'd wandered around the large room in awe, skimming your fingertips along each shelf, collecting dust on your skin when you encountered the more untouched sections, but you didn't care. Being around all the books made you feel at ease, comfortable in a way that being around people never could. When you'd discovered the windowsill that had been given cushions and padding to create a window seat, you'd nearly cried. Suddenly you were imagining the rest of the training camp spent lounged here, reading book after book, watching the rain falling or the clouds moving across the sky. All your fear about coming to the camp had now been replaced with excitement.

You'd caught up with your Uncle at dinner that night, and he'd raised an eyebrow at the grin on your face. "What are you so happy about? Found somethin' nice?"

You nodded your head eagerly, "I found," you looked around, pausing for dramatic effect, before lowering your voice and blocking one side of your mouth from the other occupants of the table, " _The library_."

Playing along, Keishin and Takeda-sensei looked at each other as if they'd just heard the best news of their life, before mirroring your position of leaning across the table towards them. "Wow," Takeda-sensei whispered. "That's amazing!" It wasn't patronising or sarcastic, instead it was filled with the same amount of childish excitement you were currently feeling.

Keishin nodded in agreement, "We definitely have an outstandin' young woman for a niece, Ittetsu." His mouth snapped shut and his cheeks flushed when he noticed his mistake, Takeda-sensei looking at him in surprise.

You pretended to take no notice of it, saying "You definitely do! I think I'm gonna head back there now, actually." You stood up, gathering your tray.

"Don't stay too long!" Keishin called, at the same time Takeda-sensei said, "Get to bed at a reasonable time!" You scoffed at their protective natures as you dumped your leftovers and deposited your tray, waving back at them as you exited the canteen.

The sound of volleyballs hitting the floor and shoes squeaking on wood could be heard as you made your way to the main building, where the library was located. Most of the players had already left the canteen and started training, and you walked past one of the gyms to see Date Tech players doing blocking practice. You found yourself stopping and staring when one of the players, a tall boy with short white hair and a serious expression on his face, stepped up to block. You remembered your Uncle's words about the 'Iron Wall of Date Tech', and suddenly it made sense. You were stood there until they switched to practising receives, having watched not a single spike get past the tall boy's blocks. As if noticing you were thinking about him, the boy in question looked at you, practically glaring. You felt a chill travel down your spine and you held up your hands, mouthing "Sorry" as you took off, running the rest of the way to the library.

You weren't entirely sure who that guy was, but what you did know was that he terrified you.

***

"Are ya _sure_ you don't wanna watch the game?" Keishin asked from across the table, but the defeated tone of his voice told you he knew the answer already.

"Positive," you answered. "I have some more books to read."

He sighed and turned to Takeda-sensei with a pleading look in his eye. The dark-haired man nodded and looked over at you. "It's not good to spend all that time holed up in the library, you know," the teacher said softly. "You've barely spoken to anyone except the two of us, and you've been here three days already. There's loads of boys that want to get to know you, they mention you all the time-"

"Not that you have to talk to any of them!" Keishin cut in frantically. "But you can always make friends with the girls. You sleep in the same room as them anyway, it seems a bit weird that ya don't speak."

"I _do_ talk to them," you argued, sipping on your water. "But they mostly just talk about their teams or certain players, like who's the hottest and who's the most annoying. I can't really join in."

"Then why don't you watch today's game?" Takeda-sensei suggested. "It'll give you something to start up a conversation with them about. You can sit with Yachi and Shimizu, and Nametsu will be there too, although she'll be on the other side."

You swallowed a bite of sandwich, "Date Tech's playing?"

"Yep, now you can see the Iron Wall for yourself." Keishin said.

You were going to say that you'd mostly already seen it, but decided against it. You thought about the scary guy who'd stared at you and you were put off, but then you remembered his amazing block and you realised you really wanted to see it again. "Alright," you sighed. "I'll come watch."

***

Date Tech: 15, Karasuno: 25

The final whistle sounded as Karasuno celebrated their victory in two straight sets. You found yourself congratulating them while simultaneously being annoyed. Halfway through the first set you'd secretly changed sides, wishing that Date Tech had won instead.

After they'd bowed to each other and began to walk away, you saw Karasuno's small ginger hang back and shake hands with the tall scary guy from Date Tech, who bowed his head. You stared, not realising the tall guy was so polite. He looked up and met your eyes and you flinched slightly at the glare. You saw his eyes widen and he dropped his gaze, a small blush showing on his cheeks. The ginger kid, who had seen the exchange, started beckoning you over with a grin. You blinked and walked towards them unconsciously. When you reached them, you were immediately introduced to one Aone Takanobu.

"Aone," you repeated, "It's n-nice to meet you."

He nodded and shook your hand. You looked at him curiously,  _seems he's not much of a talker_. A gentle smile was sent your way which you mirrored, feeling as much at ease with this giant as you felt in the library. 

The Karasuno player was called away by one of his senpais, a sweet looking boy with a mole under his eye, and you learned a little too late that his name was Hinata. "Ahh, that's me, I gotta go. Bye guys!" You waved as he ran off, Aone doing the same.

You turned back to him. "It was a really good game, you played amazingly," you told him honestly. "Your block is incredible." He nodded again in what you imagined was thanks, so you said "You're welcome, Aone." His eyes widened slightly, and you wondered if many people had had trouble communicating with him in the past. You decided to try your luck with a question that he couldn't answer with yes or no, "What year are you in?"

He was silent, and you thought he wasn't going to say anything, so you readied something else to talk about instead when you heard "Second year." You smiled.

"No way! I thought for sure you were a third year, you're so tall!" You laughed, finding it easy to talk to him, despite how one-sided the conversation might seem to someone else. He chuckled softly.

"And you?" He asked. You felt your smile widening the more he spoke.

"Same," you replied, holding up two fingers to emphasise your point, wiggling them back and forth. He smiled and nodded again, and another of Date Tech's players, a boy with brown hair and bangs falling into a middle parting, came up and rested a hand on Aone's shoulder.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said. "But we lost, so we have a punishment to do. Aone, you can talk to your girlfriend later," he teased, winking at you. You felt your face heat up, Aone's a bright shade of red which probably matched your own. You watched as he was dragged off by his snickering teammate, waving when he cast a glance back towards you. He lifted his hand up to wave slightly and you giggled.

You squeaked in surprise when an arm landed on your shoulder, "I see how it is." You looked up to see Keishin deep in thought and rolled your eyes.

"It isn't anything," you protested, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"You don't get like that over just anyone," he pointed out, and you flushed.

"Ukai-kun, leave her alone!" Takeda-sensei called over from his spot on the bench.

You whirled around to face your Uncle, "I don't really think you're in a position to judge me on my relationship, do you?" You asked, looking between him and the teacher and waggling your eyebrows before skipping off with a laugh at the two blushing faces you'd left behind.

***

"Why's the canteen so empty?" You asked Takeda-sensei over breakfast the next morning.

"It's because it's Sunday, there aren't any matches today. Most of the boys are having a lie-in, probably."

"And Uncle Keishin, too?"

He nodded and hummed, a spoonful of cereal in his mouth. You ate too, the sound of raindrops hitting the roof of the canteen making a calming background noise. "I would ask what you're planning on doing today, but I'll take a guess it involves going to the library."

You laughed, "You know me so well."

"I doubt you'll be alone in the library today, though. Some of the others might want somewhere to hang out."

"Well, as long as they're quiet, I don't mind too much." 

Keishin walked in as you were finishing your food, sliding into the seat next to Takeda-sensei with just a cup of coffee. "Rough night?" You asked with a smirk. He shot you a glare, clearly not in the mood to feel embarrassed. "...And on that note, I'll head off. See you guys later."

Despite the rain, it was relatively quiet outside. You could hear a few people practising by themselves, but other than that it seemed most people weren't awake yet or were simply taking advantage of the rest day. That's what it was for, after all. Inside the main building there were some groups of people milling around and chatting, and you heard your name being called, turning to see Hinata waving you over beside a tall dark-haired boy with an angry expression. You smiled and walked over towards their small group consisting of Hinata, the angry boy, a smaller boy with dyed hair and bad roots who was playing an old Gameboy, and a boy who was about as tall as Aone and looked a bit Russian.

"Where are you headed?" Hinata asked once you were standing beside him.

"Just to the library, there really isn't much else to do," you told him, trying not to show how anxious you were to leave.

He brought a hand to his chin, "The library..." he breathed out, as if considering it, then he shook his head. "Nah, sounds boring."

You laughed a little, "Yeah, you don't seem the type to stay still for long. I don't really know what else you can do except practise. Maybe explore for a bit? It's a big school."

He beamed at the suggestion and the boy with the two-toned hair groaned a bit. "Kenmaaaaa," Hinata whined. "Exploring is fun!"

The Gameboy kid - Kenma - rolled his eyes. "Sure it is," he said drily, and then paused his game to look up at you. "I might come to the library instead."

You grinned at him, "Sure! The sofas are really comfy, they're good for playing games on." You turned to the other three, "You boys have fun. See if you can find the creepy ballet studio."

You walked off with Kenma in tow, still playing his game while navigating the corridor. You looked over his shoulder, "Is that...Madagascar?"

He faltered a little, "You've played it?"

You gave him a look, "The Gameboy Advance was the console of my childhood, I'll have you know."

He gave you a small smile and you continued chatting idly until you reached the library doors, pushing them open and taking in the silence of the room. You could see a few people here and there, including Hitoka curled up in the corner with her nose in a book. Thankfully no-one had come to the library to chat, and you breathed out a sigh of relief. Then you had a thought: Someone's probably taken the window seat. You hoped not; it really was your favourite place to read, especially when it was raining outside. As Kenma stalked off to take a seat somewhere, you moved to the bookcase nearest the seat, pretending to look through it and casually you glanced over.

You dropped the book you were holding and Aone looked up from his spot on the window seat.

You waved over at him before dropping to pick up the fallen book, trying to ignore the pleasant feeling that had washed over you when you'd realised who was sitting there. After returning the book to the shelf, you walked towards him, noticing that the book in his hands had come from the stack you'd left on the floor next to the windowsill. 

"I see you've found my book pile," you laughed, gesturing to what he was holding. He blushed and stammered out an apology that you waved off. "Don't worry about it, this one," you lifted one near the bottom of the pile and held it up for him to see, "sounds _way_ more interesting." You stuck out your tongue at him and he chuckled.

You made to sit on the floor beside the books when he stopped you, "Sit here," he said, starting to get up but you shook your head.

"No, it's fine. I've been sitting there literally every day, it's only fair I let someone else have a turn." He smiled at your words but then frowned, scrunching his face up in thought.

"Then," he opened his arms and let one leg dangle off the ledge, the wide sill meaning there was still space for another person, if they leaned their back against his chest. You blushed heavily as he tilted his head in invitation. 

You nervously peeked around the room but saw that nobody was even looking in your direction. You slowly shuffled forward and sat, gradually bringing your legs onto the seat and leaning back into him. You sighed at the warmth from his body, your face heating up even more when he set down his book and brought his arms around to your front, essentially giving you a hug from behind. "Comfy?" He asked and you nodded, not entirely sure you were capable of speech.

You sat like that for a while, with his arms wrapped around you and you trying to read your book but failing as you felt butterflies in your stomach at the close proximity. "H-Hey Aone?" You asked and he hummed in response, the sound vibrating against your back. "I can't concentrate."

"Why not?" You knew what you wanted to say, having already figured it out pretty quickly the day before, and you weren't scared of his reaction, knowing by now that he was a very kind-hearted person, but still you struggled. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine," you assured him. "It's just..." you sighed. "I think, uh, I think I might...l-like you. A lot."

He stiffened slightly and you got scared for a moment, anticipating his answer. But instead, you felt fingers gently grasp your chin and pull your head to the side, Aone leaning down to kiss your cheek sweetly. "Me too," he whispered in your ear.

You may have fallen in love with the library the second you'd set foot inside it, but today you'd fallen in love with a person inside it instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I giggled so hard writing the Ukai and Takeda scenes, dear Lord. 
> 
> Also if you've never played Madagascar for Gameboy you have missed out on quite the game, let me tell you.


	10. The Energy Never Dies (Inuoka Sou)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost completely gave up on Inuoka because I had no idea what to write about for him (my keyword for him was literally just 'energetic' and when I read it back I was like thx past me) but I stuck with it because he's basically Hinata.
> 
> It starts off right in Chapter One, when Reader-chan first enters the gym.

You bowed low, greeting everyone in the gym with "I-It's a pleasure to meet you all!" and you could hear a chorus of replies, the others in the room eagerly welcoming you. When you straightened up, you found that two boys in particular had bounded over to talk to you.

"Hi there! I'm Hinata, Hinata Shouyou!" The tiny ginger one chirped, giving you a wave.

"And I'm Inuoka Sou!" The taller of the two blurted out, sticking out his hand for you to shake. You did so shyly, not sure how to deal with two such energetic people. You bit your lip slightly and looked to the side once you'd dropped your handshake, and from the corner of your eye you saw Hinata nudge the other boy.

"You idiot, Comb Head, you're scaring her!"

You were about to protest that no, he wasn't, when Inuoka's head snapped up and he gave you a pained look. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to say hi."

You really couldn't deal with the way he was looking at you, as if he'd just accidentally stood on his dog's paw, so you waved it off immediately, "I-It's fine, you didn't scare me. I'm just a bit nervous, that's all."

Inuoka brightened up when he heard you weren't angry with him, telling you "Don't be nervous! I promise we're all nice." You giggled a bit at that, and his smile widened immensely. "You have a really cute laugh," he said matter-of-factly, and you choked a bit on your spit.

You were still coughing when a hand reached up from behind the tall boy and smacked him on the head. "Idiot," you heard, "We're still playing." You then saw him being dragged away, but you couldn't quite see who because whoever they were they were a lot smaller than Inuoka.

Hinata was left beaming at you, "You really do have a cute laugh. And a cute smile. You're very cute."

You felt your face flush, "Th-Thank you."

He grinned and skipped off when he was called by his senpais. From the other side of the net, standing to the side with those not actually playing on the court, you saw Inuoka staring at Hinata with an intensity in his eyes that you couldn't place. He looked almost angry, but you had no idea why. You didn't have time to think about it, however, because you were beckoned over to the bench by Keishin.

"Everythin' alright?" He asked.

"Fine," you assured him.

He followed your gaze towards the boy with the spiked hair. "I see you met Thing 1 and Thing 2."

You frowned a little, not really listening, "He looks kind of pissed all of a sudden."

"Who, the Nekoma kid? I wouldn't worry," you looked at your Uncle curiously. "Those two are never angry for long."

"Yeah, but why would he be in the first place? He's looking at Hinata like he just murdered his puppy."

"You want my opinion?"

"Not really, but go on," you said with a smirk.

Keishin glared at you for a second before sighing, "It looks to me like Cactus Head over there is jealous of Hinata."

You raised an eyebrow, "Why the hell would he be jealous?"

"Well," he began, turning his head forward to continue watching the game. "Whatever Hinata said to you, it made you blush. And when Spikey was still talking to you, before Yaku took him off, you just kind'a...reacted to what he said."

"You mean when he said I had a cute laugh and I started choking?"

Takeda-sensei leaned forward from beside Keishin, having heard the conversation, "He said that?" You nodded. "That's so cute!"

You felt yourself blushing again, "Yeah well...it was very sudden."

"Still cute," he pointed out.

You rolled your eyes and continued to watch the game, your eyes roaming to Inuoka every so often. He seemed to be keeping his focus on the match, still watching Hinata. But there was one point, near the end of the first set, when his gaze moved over to you. You froze when he made eye contact, his cheeks turning a bit pink while he sent you a goofy smile. You laughed a bit behind your hand, and his smile grew even larger. You suddenly jumped when your Uncle cleared his throat.

"Is this gonna become a regular thing?" He groaned, "I don't think I can handle it."

You decided not to answer, moving your attention back to the game. Nekoma took the first set, and while the second set was mostly neck-and-neck, the Tokyo team came out on top, both Keishin and Takeda-sensei sighing heavily from your left when the final whistle blew. You were watching the celebration on Nekoma's side when your vision was blocked by a small child. Oh wait, it was just Hinata.

"Did you see my quick?" He asked, practically bouncing where he stood.

"Uh...yeah!" You answered, not entirely sure what a quick was but you guessed that it was the name of that weird spike he did that had taken you off guard. 

"It's awesome, right?"

"Y-Yeah!" You tried not to show how utterly uninterested you were in the conversation, as you weren't exactly an expert on the sport he so clearly loved. 

One of the Karasuno players, a regular who was most likely the captain with the way he commanded the others, called Hinata over to take the punishment, and you both said goodbye to each other before he skipped away, seeming far too happy for someone who had just lost.

You looked back and caught sight of Inuoka again, staring after Hinata with a much angrier look in his eyes, and you recalled Keishin's words at the beginning of the match about him possibly being jealous. You wanted to groan; if that was true then the conversation you'd just had with Hinata couldn't have made things any better.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the managers who had come over to meet you and were excited to have a new girl to talk to. You allowed them to sweep you away to the canteen for dinner, making you sit with them and asking you about everything, from your first kiss to your favourite shampoo. You were sufficiently distracted, and it stayed that way for the rest of the night, leaving you so tired that you fell asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow.

***

Something was different.

Something was  _very_ different.

You'd first noticed it when you'd seen Nekoma's and Fukuroudani's captains (when you'd asked who the owl guy was Yukie and Kaori had groaned for a good five minutes before answering) immediately stop their conversation when they'd spotted you in the corridor, the taller of the two - or maybe he wasn't, it was hard to tell with that bedhead - flashing a grin and waving, only to have his hand slapped away by the owl boy, who then began an argument. You couldn't make out a lot of it, but one thing you did hear was "I'm going to win!" and you wondered if they had a game against each other at some point during the day.

When you walked into the canteen, flanked by the other girls, the room had gone deafeningly silent. Almost every pair of eyes in the room turned to watch you walk in and you started to feel nauseous. Your head started to pound, your chest started to ache, and you shot a quick excuse about forgetting your phone in the bedroom before you ran out of the building.

You had no idea what was going on, why everyone was paying you so much attention now, but you knew you didn't like it, so you sprinted back to the main building, past the two fighting captains, and into your dorm room, just as Inuoka was leaving his own.

You heard your name being called but you ignored it, covering your head with your pillow in an attempt to drown everything out. You flinched when a hand suddenly touched your back, rubbing it in soothing circles. 

"Hey," a voice whispered. You peeked out of the pillow to see Inuoka sitting beside you, and you sniffled. "Everything okay?"

"No," you mumbled.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

You sighed, curse this boy and his friendly aura. You really did want to talk to him. "Everyone's different today, and I don't know why."

"Different how?"

"I don't know, just  _different_. First your captain and the owl-captain-guy stopped talking when I got near them and then they started fighting when your captain waved at me, and then everyone in the canteen stopped talking as soon as I walked in. It feels like they were all talking about me, like they all hate me." You felt your eyes burning with tears and you buried your face in the pillow again, Inuoka resuming his ministrations on your back.

"No-one hates you." He said, and you almost believed him.

"You don't know that," you pointed out.

"Actually, I do."

You looked at him fully after that, and he smiled widely when he saw you properly. "...I don't believe you."

"Well, you should," he said smugly. "I happen to know of a little contest that some of the others set up because they like you so much."

You narrowed your eyes, "A...contest?"

"Yep!" He leaned back and closed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "A contest to see who can ask you out first, but you have to say yes."

"Why?"

He looked at you in disbelief, "Because you're so pretty, everyone wants to date you!"

You scoffed, "Please don't lie."

"I'm not lying!" He cried, grabbing you by the shoulders and looking you straight in the eye. "I promise."

You bit your lip, "It still seems a little-wait a minute," you stared back at him, "How _exactly_ do you know about this competition?"

His face went bright red,  _Bingo_ , and he looked to the side, "Well, uh...you see, um..."

"Are you _part of it_ , Inuoka?"

"No..." you raised an eyebrow, "...Maybe...Okay, yes."

"So do you...want to date me?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Yes," he whispered.

You studied the boy in front of you curiously. He was very cute, you knew that much for sure. He had a lot of energy, loved volleyball, and was very sweet. He was also pretty good at calming you down, and he made you laugh. Honestly the thought of dating him seemed better by the second.

"And if I agree, then you'll win?" He nodded. "Then I agree."

His head snapped up, "Wha-seriously?" 

"Mhm. I mean, I don't know you all too well yet, but we can get to know each other while we're dating, right?" He nodded eagerly. "And, out of everyone here, you're definitely the only person I would feel comfortable with."

"So, does that make you...my girlfriend?" He asked, eyes full of hope.

You giggled, "Apparently so."

Your giggling didn't stop even while he gave you a massive bear hug and proceeded to give you three kisses on your cheeks (one on each, and then "another for good luck"). The giggling stopped when you walked to breakfast hand-in-hand and all eyes turned to you again, but once your boyfriend glared at them enough to make them back off, you found your laughter starting up again, and when the words "I was right, you do have a really cute laugh," reached your ears you weren't sure if you would ever stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH BOY I just LOVE to write FLUFF because it definitely DOES NOT make me want to WEEP HEAVILY
> 
> also it feels really rushed and I'm sorryyy I just had barely any ideas for him so I kept it pretty basic.


	11. Honey Get Some Patience, Maybe Then You'll Get a Taste (Terushima Yuuji)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoooly shit holy shit are u seeing this do u see the name at the top its terushima fuckin yuuji get fucken reckt friends  
> ((outside of my fantastic foursome terushima's one of the few i'd go full hoe for))  
> also this is going to be pre-slash like iwa's chapter because it's terushima so obviously it's going to be pre-slash
> 
> if you can tell me what song the chapter title's from i will give you endless hugs and many cookies
> 
> ALSO this fic has now surpassed 100 kudos!! omgomg thank you so much to everyone who read, gave kudos, commented, bookmarked and subscribed i love each and every one of you so very very much

Hana and Runa were the last of the managers to enter the dorm room. The final match of the day had just finished, and dinner would be served in thirty minutes. Until then, it was a much needed break for the players, coaches, and managers. For you, however, it was just an agonising half an hour of waiting while your stomach grumbled.

You peeked at the two girls over the top of your book. They both looked like they were ready to kill someone, or throw up, or cry, or probably all three. Runa flopped down on her futon, face into her pillow, letting out a muffled groan. Hana, on the other hand, sat down next to you and leaned her head on your shoulder. You patted her hair comfortingly.

"I hate this fucking team," she half-wailed into your t-shirt.

You sighed, "What did they-sorry, _he_ , do now?"

"He started talking about you again," Runa answered from the other side of the room, voice still muted by the pillow. You froze.

"Wh-What did he say?"

Hana lifted her head up and rolled her eyes, "He wouldn't stop going on about you. Your nose, your lips, your hair, I nearly slapped him when he said you had great boobs."

"She does have great boobs, though," Yukie pointed out, and you glared at her. "What? You do!"

"While that may be true, Yukie, it's beside the point. The point is, Terushima won't leave her alone and that's a problem." Hana said with a nod.

You bit your lip, "I mean, he hasn't actually talked to me yet."

Seven heads turned to look at you in surprise. "Seriously?" Kaori asked.

"Uh, yeah. Any time I see him he just kind of blushes and walks away."

Yukie laughed, "So he's all bark and no bite. That's adorable."

"He seems pretty harmless to me," Mai shrugged. You nodded in agreement.

"I still don't like it," Hana said, tilting her head back to hit the wall. "He might be our team's captain, but I don't trust him. Not for this."

You hummed, deciding to change the topic of conversation to the day's games, asking who had won each and if any good plays had been carried out. The other girls talked animatedly, forgetting the Terushima thing for now. You suppressed a sigh of relief. As much as you'd grown to love your friends over the week you'd been here, there was one thing you had yet to actually tell them.

You see, when you'd walked into the gym last Wednesday and nervously greeted the room, there was one boy who immediately caught your eye. You weren't sure if it was the spiky blond hair, the dark undercut, the black studs in his ears, or the wicked grin on his face that grabbed your attention, but when his mouth dropped open and you saw the glint of a silver barbell in his mouth, you knew you were a goner.

You had been lying to the girls, of course. He had talked to you straight after dinner on that first day, taking your hand in the corridor outside your bedroom and pulling you to a part of the main building that no-one had any reason to go to. Your heart had been in your throat, naturally, but when he said he just wanted to talk to you away from everyone else, and then proceeded to thrust his hand in your direction and declare that his name was Terushima Yuuji, you'd relaxed. 

That's really all he had done: talk. You'd kept the conversation going until a ping from your back pocket told you you'd just received a text, which turned out to be from Keishin demanding where you were. You'd replied that you'd just got caught up with looking around the school and you were promptly told to hurry up and get back to your dorm, because the girls were worrying. Terushima had seemed sad to see you go, and you had told him he should head back too, but that you should go different ways to make it less obvious. You'd given him your number before you parted, having enjoyed his company enough to want to talk again.

That had been seven days ago. Seven days, eight meet-ups, four phone calls, and about three hundred texts ago. But you weren't going to tell your friends that.

Of course you knew the boy had a crush on you. Hell, the feeling was mutual. But on Friday when he'd sent you a good morning text, with the addition of a request to meet before breakfast, you hadn't been entirely sure what to expect. You'd shot off a reply, getting dressed in record time and practically sprinting to your regular meeting spot to see that he was already there and waiting. And he'd looked pissed.

"You remember the competition I told you about?" He'd spat out. Of course you'd remembered. Knowing twenty or so boys wanted to date you wasn't exactly something you'd forget.

You'd swallowed audibly, "Yes?"

"Everyone in the room was talking about it when I got up. About how Aoba Jousai's captain won the game. Apparently he was bragging about it right before he went to sleep, about how he confessed to you before dinner and you said yes, because it turns out it was love at first sight for you." His eyes had shined with tears, and you'd been able to see how hurt he was.

You'd stepped closer to him, "He was lying, I promise."

"R-Really?"

You'd looked him dead in the eye, "Really." His shoulders had relaxed and he'd let out a quiet sigh. "What made you so worried anyway?" You weren't stupid, you'd known the answer already.

He'd looked away, "N-No reason. Just didn't want to see that dick Oikawa getting all the glory."

You'd raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Was there anyone in particular you were rooting for?"

"Maybe..." You'd grinned at the admission.

"Oh re-shit," Your words had been cut off with the sound of yet another text message coming through, which apparently was the way all of your meetings would end, and you'd plucked your phone from your pocket to see a message from Hana telling you to hurry down to breakfast or all the food would be gone. 

Much like your first meet-up, the two of you had said your goodbyes and parted, going different ways and leaving an interval to avoid suspicion. You'd walked into the canteen to find Oikawa gloating boisterously, and you'd known exactly what it was about. Heads turned towards you to see how you would greet your 'boyfriend', and you'd smiled sweetly, walking towards him and saying as loudly as you could without shouting, "Nice of you to tell everyone we're dating, Oikawa, especially when it's a giant fucking lie." You'd turned and begun walking towards the food only to see Terushima frozen in the doorway with a grin on his face, apparently seeing the encounter. You'd given him a wink and piled your plate full of bacon, deciding you deserved a reward for that.

Since then he'd been even livelier around you, casually flirting and teasing without actually admitting outright how he felt. That annoyed you, to be completely honest, but you knew he was probably just nervous, so you didn't mention anything and left it at that. 

You were snapped out of your thoughts by Hana's voice in your ear, "It's time for dinner? Thank God, I'm starving."

***

**Terushima Yuuji:** _i_ _have a surprise for u so meet me @ the gate_

**You:** _Sounds suspicious, but ok. What time?_

**Terushima Yuuji:** _just trust me ull like it and about 7ish?_

**You:** _Alright, see you then._

 

You had to admit, you were slightly nervous.  _A surprise? He did say surprise, right? Yeah, no, he definitely did. What kind of surprise? Are we going somewhere? Is it a date? Oh god, what if it is? What am I supposed to wear? Should I wear anything? Wait no, I have to, otherwise I'd be naked. Shit, this isn't good._

Your phone read 6:45 and you were trying your hardest not to scream. You decided that you'd play it safe with jeans and a t-shirt with a light jacket. It was late evening but still pleasantly warm, considering it was July. Hoping that he wasn't about to take you somewhere fancy - although really, it was Terushima you were talking about, he'd probably never encountered fancy in his life - you started walking towards the gate.

He stood leaning against the wall to the left of the large wrought-iron gate, wearing basically the same kind of clothes as you, except without the jacket, the short sleeves of his red shirt showing his biceps off nicely. You were very screwed. He beamed when he noticed you.

"Hey, Yuuji," you called, giving him a quick hug and trying very hard not to breathe through your nose when you did. You failed. He smelled good. You were going to die.

He whistled when you pulled away, "You look gorgeous."

You scoffed, "Please, it's just jeans."

"But you wear them so beautifully," he said with a wink and you rolled your eyes. 

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"It's a surprise, follow me."

You walked beside him for a while, recognising that you were getting closer to the centre of town. You had no idea where he could possibly be taking you, but when you watched him look at something and grin, you followed his eyes to see a tattoo and piercing parlour on the other side of the street.

"Yuuji..." you warned him.

He grabbed your hand, "Just trust me." Before you realised it, you were being dragged across the street and through the door of the parlour. 

"Either you're getting a tattoo or you're going to force me to get one, and I don't think either of those are good ideas." You tried not to whine as he pulled you to the main counter, a girl with several facial piercings standing there.

Yuuji turned to look at you, a serious expression on his face. "I'm not gonna force you to do anything, and if you don't want to we can leave. But at the week-end you mentioned really wanting to get an ear piercing but not being sure where to go or who to go with. So I thought, there's somewhere to go in town, and I can be someone you go with. What do you think?"

You blinked, "I didn't bring my purse."

"I'll pay," he answered, far too quickly.

You thought for a moment, "I'll pay you back."

He waved you off, "No need. Call it my treat."

You bit your lip and looked away, knowing there was no point in arguing. He was right, of course, you had wanted to get an industrial bar in your ear for quite a while, having already gotten two piercings in each lobe and wanting to expand the portfolio. You looked back at him and sighed, "Fine. I'll get an industrial."

***

"How's it feel?"

"Heavy," you answered, licking some more ice-cream off the cone Yuuji had bought you. You didn't want him to spend any more money on you, but he'd insisted considering the fact that you'd started crying before the needle even pierced you. You hadn't let go of the boy's hand since then, feeling oddly comforted with your fingers laced together.

"It looks good. Red and kind of painful, but good." You smiled weakly, feeling a bit drained after the emotions that had coursed through you. "You wanna head back?" He asked, and you nodded.

The walk back was filled with talking from Yuuji as he tried to lighten the mood, and it worked for the most part. He was telling you a joke that you were already laughing at when you walked through the gate, still holding hands, your ice-cream having been eaten long ago. You noticed a few people hanging out around the gyms, and you weren't feeling particularly up to having them see the two of you together, so you took the both of you to the other side of campus, Yuuji following obediently behind you.

You went in through the back entrance of the main building, which brought you near the part of the school where your regular meet-ups were, now taking place in one of the clubrooms instead of just the corridor. Once you'd made it inside the small room you flopped down on one of the sofas. He sank into the armchair opposite you and let out a deep sigh.

"Oh, that reminds me," he said, sitting up straight. "Any confessions today?"

You rolled onto your back and shook your head, "Nope, none."

He nodded, a small smile on his lips. After Friday's disaster with Oikawa he'd started checking up on who'd confessed, probably having realised by now that there was only one person you would actually say yes to.

He was silent for a while, and you looked over to see him deep in thought. Finally he met your eyes with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Mind if I change that number to one?"

You nearly groaned, " _Finally_ , Yuuji!"

He laughed and bolted to your side, "Should I get down on one knee for this?"

You grabbed his wrists, "You don't need to do anything. Shit, you don't even need to _say_ anything, my answer's already yes."

"Sweet," he breathed, and you pulled him down to sit on the sofa with you, your hands finding purchase in the hair at the back of his head as he roughly pulled your lips together, the sound of your teeth clacking against his enough to make you wince, but you didn't care as you felt the sensation of kissing him after what seemed like years. He nipped your bottom lip and your mouth opened in a gasp, giving him enough room to add his tongue. He stroked it against your own and you groaned when you felt the metal piercing in his mouth. 

You made a decision then and there, taking off your jacket to give him an idea of what you wanted. He growled and bit into your neck, pulling his shirt over his head and smirking into your skin when you moaned, both because of the sensations at your throat and the fantastic abs you now had access to. 

Your decision was not one you regretted.

***

Your Uncle yelled at you for five reasons the next day:

  1. You hadn't returned to the dorm room last night after disappearing suddenly and not telling anyone where you were going.
  2. You had a black bar going through your right ear.
  3. You had just walked into the canteen hand-in-hand with Terushima Yuuji.
  4. The two of you were wearing the same clothes you had last been seen in the night before.
  5. Both of your necks were littered with bruises and bite marks.



To say that you didn't care about being shouted at was an understatement, and to say that you didn't relish the looks you got from every other boy in the room as you and your boyfriend made out during breakfast was a huge lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter a lot like I think this is my favourite so far I just love Terushima and his stupid fucking tongue piercing


	12. Teach Me, Teach Me, All This Learning Here Is By You (Ushijima Wakatoshi)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from Feeling Myself - Queen Nicki feat. Queen Bey  
> It's not a word-for-word reference because if I did it word-for-word I'd probably be in deep shit lmao
> 
> Anyway it's Ushiwaka's turn and I have no idea how to write him so this should be fun but thankfully this is the last chapter with a difficult character, all the remaining ones are people I can write for

"Okay, then..." you looked around the busy canteen, before spotting a person you'd been curious about for a while. "Who's  _that_ guy?" Almost as soon as you gestured towards him, he glanced up and caught your eye.

"Shit, put your head down," Hana whispered frantically from your left, shielding her eyes with a hand, the other girls at the table doing the same.

Confused, you peeked back at the boy a few tables away to see him still looking your way. You smiled at him, raising your hand in a slight wave. You heard a quiet "Oh my god, what is she doing?" from Yukie, but ignored it. You saw a slight flicker of amusement in the boy's eyes before they moved back to the rest of his team, face still completely serious.

A hand waved in front of your face, and you turned to see Hana staring at you in disbelief, "What the hell was that?"

"What?" You questioned, "I was just being friendly."

"You don't just 'be friendly' with Ushijima, that's practically suicide." Hana pointed out, going back to attacking her pancakes.

You furrowed your eyebrows, "He doesn't seem that bad."

Several water droplets landed on the table as Yukie began choking on her drink, "That bad?" She coughed out, turning to Kaori. "Is she being serious? Tell me she's not being serious." She turned back to you, waving her now empty cup around, "You can't be serious!"

"I  _am_ serious; seriously annoyed with how you're all acting right now."

"Funny," she said dryly. "I'm getting more water."

You chewed on your lip as she got up, trying to figure out what exactly they were talking about. "So...Ushijima? I'm guessing he's the Ushijima Wakatoshi that Keishin told me about, right?" You received several nods in return. "I hear he's an amazing player."

Hana groaned, "He's good, but that's about as far as his attributes go. He's really antisocial, kind of an ass, and overall terrifying."

You frowned, "That seems a little mean. Not everyone can be friendly, maybe he's just bad at talking to people and that's why he comes across as an ass. And just because he doesn't show a lot of emotion doesn't make him terrifying."

"You're very quick to defend him," Mai pointed out from opposite you.

"Well, I just don't think it's very fair to judge him like that."

"If I didn't know any better," Mai said with a mouth full of scrambled egg, "I'd say you have a crush on him."

You snorted, "I just found out his name not five minutes ago."

Yukie returned, setting down her newly filled cup of water, "Five minutes is plenty of time to fall in love~" she chimed.

"Jesus, all I said was not to judge him, and suddenly it's love." You rolled your eyes.

"Don't worry," Hana said. "We're only joking. Besides, he's not attractive in the slightest."

You raised an eyebrow, "Well, now you're definitely joking."

"Huh?"

"Please tell me you were joking when you said that."

"Uh, no?"

You stared at your friend, "You seriously don't think he's attractive?"

"He's not," Yukie stated.

You looked at the other five girls who were nodding in agreement, "I can't believe this."

Mai thought for a minute, "Maybe if he smiled more he'd look better."

"He doesn't need to smile," you received a confused look, so you explained. "He smiles with his eyes."

You watched Mai's mouth drop open, thankfully empty of breakfast. Yukie laughed, "You could totally date him."

You felt your face heat up and you looked back over to the Shiratorizawa table, Ushijima almost glaring at a teammate who seemed to be telling a story, eyes full of excitement and arms waving wildly. Or rather, the girls might've thought he was glaring, but you could tell he was just listening intently. The story must've been a funny one, because you could see the laughter in the captain's eyes. 

You were still feeling warmth in your cheeks when he lifted his head and saw you. You didn't want to look away, and apparently neither did he. You raised an eyebrow, challenging him to break the gaze, and you watched as the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. A gasp from Hana told you she had just seen what was probably the closest thing to a smile that had ever shown on his face. You didn't look at her however, instead keeping up the game you'd started.

Five minutes passed, and neither of you had moved. Even as everyone else started getting up to prepare for the first match of the day, you remained seated. Ushijima, however, was called away by his coach but he kept the game up for another minute before sighing and dropping his eyes. You cheered at your victory, laughing at the displeased look on his face.

"Sorry for your loss," you teased, calling across the canteen.

He started to get up, but paused and looked back at you. "You have excellent focus."

You blinked as you also got up and started walking towards him, "Thank you."

"You'd be good for volleyball."

You shook your head, now standing beside the boy, "My Uncle tried to teach me once. It didn't end well."

"I could teach you," he suggested, before promptly leaving. You were left staring at the doorway he'd just exited through. _Just like that? Not even an 'only joking'? He better not be serious about this_.

***

He was serious about this.

You groaned as yet another volleyball hit your forearm as you tried to mimic the receive stance he'd shown you. You thought you were doing alright for a first-timer, but every time you sent the ball up you caught a glimpse of his dissatisfied face. 

" _Please_ tell me that was a good one," you panted, wiping the sweat from above your lip.

"It was..." he struggled for a minute. "Decent."

"That's good, right?"

"No."

You threw your hands up, "Decent is good!"

"No, it's not."

"Why not?!"

He sighed, " _Decent_ won't win you Nationals."

You groaned, sitting down where you stood, "Except I'm _not_ trying to win Nationals. I'm not trying to win _anything_."

"You should always have something to aim for," he stated, walking over and handing you a water bottle.

You drank from it for a few seconds, "Nothing I'm aiming for has anything to do with volleyball."

He sat down in front of you, legs crossed, "Almost everything _I'm_ aiming for has something to do with volleyball."

"I could've guessed that," you told him honestly. The room was silent while you tried to breathe life back into your body. "So, anyway, I have a question."

"Mm?"

"Why  _exactly_ did you want to teach me volleyball? And don't say it's because I have excellent focus, that's not a reason. We've been at this for three days and I still haven't made any progress whatsoever, so why are you still insisting that I learn?"

He shrugged, "I wanted to teach someone from scratch."

"You're lying."

He started, shock being the first real emotion you'd ever seen on his features. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Usually you're blunt and tactless to the point where it can be offensive. Why aren't you telling me this?"

"I'm not sure if-" you cut him off.

"It doesn't matter. You've been honest about everything so far, you can be honest about this."

He looked you in the eye, "I want to win."

Now you were confused, "Win what? Your next game? Nationals?"

"The competition."

Silence. Your brain worked overtime to try and understand, before it came up with one solution: anger.

"Oh my god. Oh my  _god_." You couldn't believe this.

He blinked, "Are you angry?"

"No. I don't know. Wait, yes. Yes I am."

"Why?" You could hear genuine confusion in his voice.

"Why?" You repeated, disbelieving. "You said it yourself, you want to win. You're probably only in this for the victory. Who cares about what you have to do, so long as you  _get to win._ "

Your head felt fuzzy, and you weren't sure if you wanted to cry or punch a wall. What you did know, however, was that you had to leave. You could hear him saying something, but your vision had gone blurry with tears you didn't notice forming, your hearing muffled with the sound of your heartbeat throbbing. You were sobbing before you realised it, running out of the gym, across the patio, bumping into a few people here and there, hearing muted voices asking if you were okay but you ignored all of them, sprinting past and ending up in a part of campus you barely knew, with no lights to guide your way in the dark night. You'd left your phone back in the gym, you remembered with a curse. Of course you weren't lost, you could easily find your way back because the lights around the main buildings were practically like a lighthouse for you. But you weren't going back, not yet.

There was a building nearby, and you guessed it was some kind of shed. You walked over to it, taking a seat on the cracked stone and leaning your back against the wall. You then brought your knees up to your chest, rested your forehead against your arms, and began to cry.

***

You were being nudged. You groaned out a "Fuck off," turning over to continue sleeping peacefully. Or as peacefully as you could on such a hard futon. What was this thing made of, stone? It hurt like hell, and you could tell you weren't going to get back to sleep now. You slowly cracked one eye open to see that you were outside, and that-oh, it was made of stone. You were lying on the ground. You heard hushed talking from somewhere above you.

"Iwa-chan, what do we do if she doesn't get up?"

"Carry her back, probably."

A whine, "She might be heavy."

A smack, "Don't be an ass."

A snicker. Oh wait, that was from you. You opened the other eye and sat yourself up, your muscles stiff from the hard ground. "Morning, guys," you chirped out, stretching your arms above your head.

Oikawa looked terrified, "You didn't happen to hear what I said, did you?"

"Yep!" You smiled.

"And you're okay with that?" Iwaizumi asked. "He did say you were heavy, after all."

You stared at him for a minute, "Everyone's heavy. You're heavy. I'm heavy. Anyway, why am I here?"

"Apparently you ran off last night. A lot of people saw you leave, but you looked pretty upset so they just left you alone. Did something happen?" Iwaizumi asked, concerned.

You racked your brain trying to remember, and then you sighed, "Ushijima," you heard two noises of understanding before you continued. "Something he said."

" _There's_ a shock," Oikawa half-whispered. "What, did he tell you you had no talent? That you were a waste of space? A disgrace to your family?"

You shook your head, "No, he told me the only reason he'd been teaching me volleyball was because he wanted to win the competition. He wanted to get a victory, so he tried to get close to me, to make me fall in love with him. And it," your voice broke off, eyes filling with tears. "It  _fucking worked_."

Your loud sobs drowned out any sounds, so you didn't notice a pair of footsteps coming closer, or that person quietly telling Oikawa and Iwaizumi that they would fix it, and you didn't notice the two leaving, or the new person crouching down in front of you, not until you felt yourself being pulled into a tight hug, your face pressed against a muscular chest. 

"I'm sorry," you cried harder when you heard Ushijima's voice above you. "I didn't get a chance to explain myself."

You sniffled, "Then explain." You surprised yourself by how level you managed to keep your voice.

"I don't want to win for the victory. I don't care about that. I want to win because the only way to win is to get you."

You pulled away, face wet with tears, "I don't understand, why would-"

Your words were cut off as a pair of lips were pressed against your own, forceful and persistent. You smiled into the kiss, feeling all the emotions and thoughts that he had difficulty putting into words and expressions being shown to you through this one action. Your heart was throbbing in your ears again, just like last night when you'd ran out of the gym, except instead of your vision being blocked by tears, it was blocked once you closed your eyes and fully melted into it.

When you finally pulled away, you whispered, "Congratulations. You've just won the competition."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a big fan of this chapter to be perfectly honest but hey ho, there it is.


	13. I've Got a Boyfriend Now And He's Made Of Gold (Yamaguchi Tadashi)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Freckled Prince gets his turn with Reader-chan and her girlish charms
> 
> Also with this chapter we're halfway through and I'm not sure how I feel about that

You weren't really paying much attention to the current game, instead keeping your focus firmly locked on the book in your hands. If not for the downpour outside, you'd be sat on a bench or stuck up a tree somewhere, and if the library wasn't being used by one of Shiratorizawa's many clubs you would definitely be there, but as it stood your other options were unavailable and so you'd turned up to the gym with three different books to read and a desire to ignore everyone around you.

With an Uncle like Keishin, it was hard to compete the latter.

Keishin felt an overwhelming sense of pride any time Karasuno were playing, and today's match against Johzenji was no exception. Every time a quick was achieved, or a particularly amazing play was accomplished, your Uncle would turn to you and gush about how excellent his team was. You gave nothing back to the conversation however, so by the end of the first set he'd taken to discussing the game with Takeda-sensei instead. 

The first set ended, Karasuno's victory, and you continued to block out the world with your nose in your book. You vaguely recognised Keishin giving a pep talk from beside you, the players answering back that they'd get the second set as well. You found yourself smiling unconsciously when you heard Hinata as lively as ever next to Tsukishima's practically emotionless voice.

The whistle blew for the second set to start, and after Johzenji got a slight lead Keishin and Takeda-sensei were back to discussing how to retake the game, your curiosity getting the better of you when a phrase you'd never heard before was mentioned.

"What's a pinch server?"

The two men turned their heads to look at you, slightly shocked by your sudden interruption. Keishin recovered quickly, "It's a player we bring into the game specifically to serve, essentially bein' a server in a pinch."

You frowned, "We have one of those?"

He smirked and nodded over to the players not currently on the court, "Yamaguchi." He stated simply.

You looked over, the boy in question watching the game, his hands trembling and his eyes wide. "He doesn't look too good," you pointed out.

"He always gets nervous, it's nothin'."

You weren't sure you agreed with your Uncle, but continued to watch the boy, now seeming utterly terrified. You wondered if he knew they were considering putting him in the game. After all, with Johzenji a few points ahead it would make sense to put the pinch server to good use.

Sure enough, Yamaguchi was called over to the bench and told that he'd be going in. His face paled, and for a second you worried he would pass out then and there, but thankfully he managed to stay standing.

"Take a deep breath," you told him once the coaches had finished explaining things. "You'll do fine."

He jumped a little when you started talking but gave a weak smile at your words, which then dropped suddenly. "I might mess up again," he whispered.

"So what?" He gave you a confused look. "It's a practice game, right? The reason you're playing is so you can practice playing a match. Nobody's going to care if you make a mistake, because you can learn from it. So just try your best, and nobody can fault you."

You could see Keishin and Takeda-sensei staring at you curiously from the corner of your eye, but you were more focused on the boy in front of you, who was blushing from your little talk and grinned before nodding, "Okay! I'll do it. Thank you!" Your heart ached at the sudden happiness in his eyes, and you watched as he was put into the game, pulling off a serve that was - according to you, but then again you were quite inexperienced - absolutely perfect. You couldn't help but cheer, your book long forgotten, when Karasuno got the point, your mood lifting entirely when Yamaguchi looked over at you and smiled, giving you a thumbs-up that you reciprocated with a laugh.

"You're very good at giving advice," Takeda-sensei mused from beside Keishin.

You shrugged, "I just told him the things I tell myself when I'm nervous."

"I think it did a little more than calm his nerves," Keishin pointed out. When you raised an eyebrow he said, "The kid won't stop lookin' over at you.

He was right. As you continued to watch, you saw Yamaguchi glancing over towards you every so often. Even when he was brought out of the game, you found yourself watching the off-court players rather than the game itself, and you saw that he was doing the same, focusing more on the area around the bench you were sitting on instead of his own teammates.

You managed to keep this up until the final whistle blew, startling you to the point where you nearly fell off the bench. You heard Keishin laughing at you, but you were too busy staring at the ground, face on fire, hoping that nobody noticed how you'd spent almost the entirety of the second set staring at Yamaguchi. As you glared at the wooden floor, trying to count every line and grain, a pair of trainers came into view, and you peeked up to see the exact same person you'd been thinking about beaming down at you.

"Your advice helped!" He chirped. "I wasn't nervous!"

Your breath hitched at the pure innocence in front you. "Th-That's great! You did really well!"

His smile grew wider - if that were even possible - and stayed on his face while Keishin gave the team a talk congratulating them all on their win. He was still smiling when they broke off to get showered and changed before dinner, and you felt a large amount of butterflies in your stomach when you realised he was so happy because of something you said.

When Hitoka asked you at dinner if you were okay, you weren't entirely sure how to answer.

***

"Wake up bitch, it's a rest day!"

You groaned. The one thing you had come to detest more than anything in your four days of being here was Yukie's voice first thing in the morning. For someone who complained about her noisy captain so often, you'd think she would try and keep her voice low for fear of annoying anyone around her.

Oh, how wrong you were.

"If it's a rest day, then why the  _fuck_ are you waking me up?"

"Easy," you could hear her grinning. "Karasuno are planning on spending the day together."

"And..?"

There was a pause, which you were 90% sure was an eyeroll, and then, " _And,_ you're joining them."

You groaned again, the sound muffled by your pillow, "No." Yukie clicked her tongue and suddenly you were being hoisted up into a sitting position, the girl smirking at you as you glared at her.

"That's better. Now, about the Karasuno thing-"

"I'm not a player, or a manager. I can't just join them," you interrupted.

She gave you a look, "Except they _want_ you to join them. Hitoka and Kiyoko definitely want another girl with them, and you're the Coach's niece, you're practically one of them. And besides, a certain pinch server is practically dying to see you again."

The advice-giving incident was two days ago, and of course the girls knew about it. They had all watched the event taking place, Hitoka and Kiyoko being next to you at the time and Hana and Runa being just on the other side of the net, with Johzenji. Fukuroudani had been playing on the other court in the room, meaning Yukie and Kaori saw it take place, and of course Fukuroudani just happened to be playing Date Tech, which meant Mai had watched it all happen. Just your luck to have all seven managers see you get flustered over a boy.

"You don't know that," you told her.

"Oh but I do~" she sang. "I have my sources, you know. Which is why you have to hang out with your team today." She dropped her voice to a whisper, "I sorted something special with Sugawara and Sawamura~~"

You sighed, "Fine. But it better be something I actually enjoy or you're getting punched."

She held her hands up in surrender, "Deal. And trust me, you will enjoy it."

***

You had been staring at the object in Suga's hands since he'd produced it practically out of thin air, having an idea in your mind of what it would be used for but hoping and praying that you were wrong.

"We're going to do something special now," Daichi said, and your heart nearly stopped. Those were the exact words Yukie had used, meaning this was most likely whatever she'd planned with the captain and vice-captain, meaning that what Suga was holding was definitely involved in that plan.

Suga grinned, "Everyone sit in a circle."

You suppressed a groan once you were all seated and the empty bottle Suga was holding was placed in the centre.  _Please don't let this be Spin the Bottle, please don't let this be Spin the Bottle, please God don't let this be Spin the Bottle-_

"We're playing Spin the Bottle Truth or Dare!" Daichi's voice cut through your thoughts. You weren't sure if you should feel relieved or not.

Tanaka seemed to voice everyone's confusion with a loud "Huh?" and the captain went on to explain.

"It's like Truth or Dare, but the person you ask the truth or dare for is the person the bottle lands on. So, unlike Spin the Bottle, there's no kissing of any kind, unless of course that's what the dare is," he added with a wink.

"It seems okay," you whispered to Hitoka, who nodded nervously in agreement, before the game started.

It began quite mildly, with some truths being answered - Hinata hasn't had his first kiss; Kiyoko has (you were almost positive you could hear some sniffling in the room when she answered that) - as well as some dares being carried out - Suga had to write the name of his crush on Kageyama's back; Tanaka was made to lick the floor; Asahi had to stand in the gym's storage room alone for five minutes with the light off (you, Hitoka, and Suga had a job of soothing him once he was allowed out, you hadn't realised how easily scared he was) - until finally it was Daichi's turn, and the bottle landed on you.

"Okay, truth or dare?"

"Truth," you answered easily. You hated having to do dares, you always felt far too pressured.

You decided you didn't like the smirk you got from him, and you figured out why when he asked, "Do you have a crush on someone?"

It felt like all the eyes in the room were on you, but only one pair in particular actually mattered. You took a deep breath and answered, "Yes," never feeling as thankful as you did in that moment that you were only allowed to ask yes or no questions.

"Your turn." You nodded and grasped the bottle, sending it into a spin that landed straight on Yamaguchi. You blinked a few times, trying to figure out if it was real or not. He nervously cleared his throat and called your name, and you sent a sheepish grin at him as you remembered you had to ask him a question.

"Truth or dare?"

He thought for a minute, "Dare."

You weren't expecting that. You were sure he would've chosen truth, although you'd thought that about Asahi as well. "Okay, uh..." your mind went blank, you'd always been terrible at thinking up dares. You turned to the others in the circle, "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I do!" Suga's hand shot straight up, and you smiled in thanks before remembering that he was part of the thing Yukie had planned, which meant you really shouldn't be trusting him, but he was already getting up and crossing over to Yamaguchi, whispering the dare in his ear. The boy's face turned bright red, but he nodded to Suga that he'd do it.

You didn't have time to question the nature of the dare because Yamaguchi had walked over to you and grabbed your hand, not meeting your gaze as he ran out of the gym with you in tow. 

He took you around to the back of the building, making sure no-one had followed you out. Once you stopped moving he dropped your hand and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously.

"Yamaguchi?"

He took a deep breath and turned to face you, hand falling to his side as he bit his lip and closed his eyes. "Sorry," he whispered.

You breathed out a laugh, "What for?"

You didn't see him move, didn't notice him walk towards you or bring his face down to your level, didn't even comprehend the fact that his lips pressed against yours until he'd pulled away, face the colour of a tomato.

"For that."

You stood there, frozen, trying to make sense of what just happened. The tingling feeling in your lips and the shortness of your breath had you guessing that you'd just been kissed, but why would that have happened? Surely he didn't... "W-Why?" You heard yourself asking lamely, still in shock.

"Why?" He repeated. "B-Because I...I really um." He bit his lip again.

"You really...?" You prompted.

He sighed, bringing his eyes up to meet yours. "I really like you."

You gasped, and he must've thought you were disgusted because he began frantically apologising, but stopped when you held up a hand. "I really like you too. Like, a lot."

His eyes widened, "Really?"

You nodded, "Really."

He smiled, the freckles on his face showing more prominently in the afternoon sun, making him seem even more adorable to you, as well as making your heartbeat pound loudly in your chest. You were sure he could hear it, but you decided you didn't care, wanting him to know exactly how you felt.

You leaned up and kissed him again, just a quick peck because you knew the others would be wondering where you were. He pulled you into an embrace, mouth moving down to your ear. "I lied," he whispered, and you stiffened. "I actually might love you instead."

You relaxed with a sigh and giggled into his chest, "I actually might love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams eternally*
> 
> apologies for the slight delay also, school is for nerds and squares and I wish to be neither but alas, here I am


	14. This Love Left A Permanent Mark (Kageyama Tobio)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If in doubt, use a Taylor Swift lyric
> 
> This is another of the ones where I wrote a keyword and now I have no idea what I planned, because for Kags all I have is 'volleyball' but like ???? what about volleyball??? why am I so unhelpful to myself??????
> 
> SO with that in mind I decided to change this chapter up a bit, and it starts directly where chapter one left off~~

"...In that case, may the best man win."

You shared a look with Kaori at the words coming from inside Karasuno's dorm, wondering what the boys had planned. It sounded like some kind of competition to you, and you decided that it was most likely to do with volleyball, the boys probably competing to see who could score the most points or win the most matches.

Hesitantly, you brought your hand up and knocked. The hushed talking beyond the door stopped suddenly, and it opened to reveal a tall boy with dark hair and blue eyes, someone you recognised from Karasuno. He blanched when he saw you, eyes wide like he was staring at his worst nightmare. You looked at the girl beside you but she just shrugged helplessly, clearly not knowing what was going on either.

You cleared your throat, "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to interrupt anything. It's just, it's pretty late, and the coaches kind of want you all to go to bed." When there was no answer from anyone inside the room, you started panicking, "Ah-I mean, you don't  _have_ to, Uncle Keishin just texted me to get you all to quieten down, y-you know, because the others are trying to sleep. I don't know why he sent me, really, but I guess it's because I'm kind of neutral," you knew you were rambling, but you were getting no response from the boys, so you continued, "and I brought Kaori with me because Hitoka doesn't really like people, and Kiyoko is super quiet so I don't think she'd provide much support, and Yukie and Hana would just yell, and Mai and Runa just wanted to sleep, so I brought Ka-"

You shut your mouth. No, you didn't shut your mouth, something was  _pressed against_ your mouth. What could be pressed against your mouth? Whatever it was, it was warm, and kind of soft. 

And then the boy pulled away.

Holy shit.

His  _mouth_ had been pressed against your mouth.

Chaos. That's the only word you could use to describe the following few minutes. Many of the other occupants of the room who had previously been seated on the floor jumped up and ran towards the boy in front of you, grabbing him and yelling into his face. Kaori turned you around to face her and kept her hands on your shoulders, checking to make sure you were okay, how were you feeling, if you wanted her to get your Uncle. You could barely make anything out, your brain still trying to process exactly what had just happened, but you were brought back to reality with the sound of skin meeting skin. Your head snapped to the side to witness the boy who had kissed you sporting a reddening mark on his cheek, another boy with a crew cut holding his hand up, apparently having just slapped him.

You moved without thinking, wedging yourself between the two boys to prevent anything else happening, "Stop! Please, stop." You were given curious looks, and you made eye contact with the crew cut guy, "It's fine," you told him, before turning to the one behind you. "I'm not angry." He seemed relieved to hear your words.

Crew cut growled, "It's not fine. He can't just-"

"Please," you begged. "I'm not mad, I'm just tired. We all are," you added, turning back to the tall boy to emphasise your point.

A boy with silver hair and a mole under his eye came up behind crew cut and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Tanaka," he said softly. "That's enough. She says it's fine, so let's just leave it, okay?"

The boy - Tanaka - nodded before moving further into the room. The dark-haired boy followed him, nursing his cheek, while the soft-spoken boy gently led you outside the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked quietly, and you felt yourself relax instantly at the kindness in his voice.

You nodded, "Yes, I was just a bit shocked. I'm fine though."

He smiled, "That's good. Oh, I should introduce myself, I guess. I'm Sugawara, Karasuno's vice-captain, but you can call me Suga. The angry one was Tanaka, and the one who kissed you was Kageyama."

"Kageyama," you repeated. You'd heard the name before, from Keishin. "He's a setter, right?"

"Yep! I'm the other setter, but I'm not nearly as good as Kageyama," he laughed lightly.

"I'm sure that's not true," you argued.

Suga hummed, but didn't say anything more. He started walking, you and Kaori following until he reached your dorm room. He turned to face you, "Listen, I should probably tell you why that happened."

"The kiss?"

He nodded, "The reason why we were all in that room was because of you."

You froze, "Me?"

He flailed, "No! No, I don't mean in a bad way, what I mean is that everyone was there because of your impact."

You frowned, not completely understanding. Kaori sighed, "They all had a meeting because you're hot and they can't handle it with their tiny man brains."

You laughed, "Geez, Kaori, you could be a little nicer."

"She's right though," Suga pointed out. You stared at him and he shrugged. "Tanaka and Yamamoto came up with a competition, to see if anyone could successfully confess to you. I think that's why Kageyama did that."

You blinked, "Oh."

"I can call it off if that's what you want," he suggested, but you shook your head.

"It's okay, I don't mind really. I mean, I'd rather not have anyone confess or, well, kiss me out of the blue like that. I can't really reciprocate if I barely know you."

"I understand," he nodded. "I'll tell the others to lay off on surprises."

You smiled, "Thank you, Suga."

He said good night and walked back to his room, Kaori and you turning back into your own only to be met with demands of what all the noise was about, to which you explained everything that had happened and while you were met with more questions, you decided you'd answer them in the morning, instead settling into bed and falling asleep straightaway, your body and mind exhausted from everything that had happened.

***

"Sorry, Hinata, but no," you watched as his face fell. "We can still be friends though!" You added quickly, and he beamed up at you.

"Really?" He asked.

You nodded eagerly, "Yep! I promise." He seemed satisfied with that, so he skipped off back to the gym to continue practising. You looked at the open door he'd just disappeared through, before beginning to walk back to your dorm. 

"You shouldn't have rejected Hinata like that," a voice suddenly stated from the darkness.

You jumped and stopped walking, seeing a face coming into view in front of you. "Jesus, Kageyama, you scared me."

He looked at the ground, "Sorry. But you really shouldn't have."

"And why not?"

He shrugged, "Hinata's nice I guess. You'd like him."

"Yeah he is nice. As a friend," you clarified. "I don't have much interest in him past that."

"At least he didn't kiss you," he mumbled.

You rolled your eyes, "That was over a week ago, Kageyama. I wasn't mad then and I'm not mad now. Stop acting like it was the worst thing in the world."

"But I made you uncomfortable," he argued.

"For like a second, yeah. But you've apologised, multiple times. I'm seriously okay with it."

"Are you s-"

"Positive," you smiled, then looked back to the gym. "I think you'd best follow Hinata in there, get some practice done." He nodded and walked over to the gym, entering through the door just like his teammate had done a few minutes ago. You sighed and continued over to the main building, making your way to the dorm where some of the girls were relaxing.

"What are you so happy about?" Hana called over as soon as you opened the door, painting her nails in the middle of the floor.

You hadn't realised you were still smiling, so you frowned, "Nothing."

"Did you get confessed to again?" Hitoka asked over the top of her book.

"No. Well, yes, but that's not why I was smiling." You took a seat on top of your futon.

Yukie grinned at you from the windowsill, "Spill."

You sighed, "Hinata confessed, I said no. He's okay with us still being friends though."

"Is _that_ why you're happy?" Hana asked, "Because you're still going to be friends?"

"Nah," you waved her off. "Kageyama tried to apologise again."

Yukie snorted, "That happened like a week ago, haven't you told him it was alright?"

"Yep, many times. But he still keeps apologising."

"Has he actually confessed?" She asked, jumping down from her window seat to join you and the other two on the floor.

You shook your head, "I think he feels too guilty."

Hitoka hummed from the corner, "I think it'll take a lot of convincing for him to stop feeling like that."

"Probably," you agreed.

"I have a question," Hana stated, screwing the lid back onto her nail polish bottle. "If Kageyama did confess to you, what would your answer be?"

You felt yourself blushing. There it was, the question you'd been asking yourself since Suga had explained the competition to you. There were quite a few of the boys - Suga, for one - who you wouldn't be entirely opposed to saying yes to. After all, he was kind and sweet, and had gently taken control of the situation with Kageyama and Tanaka. Then there were the boys to whom your immediate answer would be no, thank you, and please leave me alone. And then there were the ones like Hinata who you'd prefer to be friends with. And finally, there was the fourth kind:

Kageyama.

There was a lot of confusion when you thought about him. The way he'd been constantly apologising since last week told you he could be kind and caring like Suga, but there was also a part that made you just want to be friends with him. That part, however, disappeared quickly when you remembered the action that started all this in the first place.

You had found yourself thinking about the kiss a lot in the past eight days, remembering the way his mouth felt slotted against your own. There was a part of you that wanted to feel it again, a part that made your entire body tingle every time you saw or talked to him, and it was this part that always answered the question when you asked yourself it.

"I'd say yes," you told Hana.

She smiled, waving her hand around to dry her nails, "I thought so."

"Do you have a plan?" Hitoka asked.

You shook your head, "No, not really."

"We could always just wait for him to confess," Hana suggested.

"That's not gonna work," Yukie said, waving her off. "We have to take charge."

Hana beamed, "We should think up a plan of action-" 

"Or," you cut her off. "I could just ask him out myself?"

Her face fell, "That's not nearly as exciting."

"Tough, it's happening."

***

"Hey Kageyama, you headed to the gym now?" You asked once you saw him exit the canteen. You were trying to maintain a cool and calm exterior by leaning against the wall, one foot propped up behind you with your arms crossed. You were definitely not calm or cool on the inside, but he didn't need to know that.

He stopped and turned to look at you, "Uh, yeah, what about you?"

You hummed, "I was just going to find somewhere quiet to play some games. I have something to ask you first, though."

"Really?"

"Mhm. But not here," you started walking away from the canteen building, gesturing for him to follow you. He did, albeit reluctantly, and you began to lead him further away from the main campus buildings, to an area where no-one would come to. You turned to him, "Remember what happened last week?"

He froze, "Y-Yeah?"

You took a deep breath, walking forward a few steps until you were practically against him, "Now it's my turn."

Before he could question anything, you grabbed him by the collar and brought his face down to meet yours. You saw a flicker of understanding in his eyes and then you were kissing him, his body stiffening with shock at your sudden action. You pulled away, suppressing a giggle at the stunned expression on his face.

He blinked, "Y-You...uh, what..."

"Sorry," you said with a wink, feeling confident because of how flustered he was.

He frowned slightly, "I don't understand."

"You didn't seem like you were going to confess any time soon, so I decided to speed things up a little."

"Wait...so that, was that-"

"That was a yes."

"Are you s-"

"Positive," you grinned at him, receiving a soft smile in return. Slowly, he leaned his head down towards your own and left a small peck on your cheek, your face heating up in response.

As the two of you walked to the gym, you felt his hand slide into your own, and you couldn't help but think that being kissed by a stranger on your first night at training camp was the best thing that had ever happened to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can just imagine Kags hiding in the shadows in a big trench coat, sunglasses and a brown trilby on his head when he comes out and says that line about rejecting Hinata like...detective Kageyama on the case lmao


	15. Baby I Just Wanna Dance (Akaashi Keiji) (NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly I need to give a huge apology as to how late this chapter is. I have no real excuse other than it took me way too long to write it, but it's a whopping 4600 words long so enjoy that. Also a few more things:  
> 1\. Over 200 kudos!!!!!!! Gee whiz wollykers that's a lot of people and I love every single one of you.  
> 2\. A rating change!! What could this mean?? Well friends take a look at the chapter title and you will see exactly what that means, we're getting some first rate Akaashi smut oh yes  
> 3\. Remember when I mentioned my ot4 that is Akaashi, Bokuto, Kuroo and Kenma? Notice how the first chapter including one of those four is a smut chapter? I wonder what that means for the other three chapters....  
> 4\. This fic is not tagged as Underage because reader and Akaashi are both 16 which is completely legal both where I live and in Japan, just in case you were worrying.

You’d taken to going on walks around campus once the sun had set, the night sky dark and the only light coming from the moon, the stars, and the occasional lit-up window of an occupied room. You made sure to walk slowly, taking deep breaths of the fresh air to clear your head while you listened to music, loud enough for you to hear easily but yet quiet enough to not completely drown out the outside sounds, making sure that you would be able to hear if anyone wanted to grab your attention. 

Once dinner had been eaten - you’d spent the entire time listening to the girls debating which of the boys would look best in a skirt, and the entire time you’d tried your hardest to convince them that no, they would never be able to persuade Tsukishima into wearing one - you’d returned to your dorm, and one look outside to see that the night was clear and cloudless had you grabbing your phone and headphones and running out the door with only a “back in a bit” thrown behind you so as not to completely worry your friends.

This had been your nightly routine since you’d first arrived at the camp. On your first night here, your new roommates had chalked up your disappearance to simply wanting to explore some more. They had believed that the next night, and the next night, but on the fourth night you were stopped before you’d even left the room. You shook your head when you remembered the conversation from that night.

“Can you  _ please  _ let me through?” You’d pleaded to Yukie, the girl standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a wicked grin on her face.

She’d hummed and shaken her head, “Nope! Not ‘til you tell us where you’re  _ really _ going.”

You’d merely rolled your eyes, “I’m literally just going for a walk.”

“That’s not what I think,” she’d stated, her eyes latching onto something behind you before she added, “And that’s not what Hana thinks either.”

Two arms suddenly wrapping around your body from behind told you exactly where Hana was, her voice singing into your ear, “We think you’re meeting someone~”

You’d knocked her arms off and spun around, glaring at her with all the fake anger you could muster, “And who, pray tell, do you think I’d be meeting? Everyone’s either practicing, a manager, or a coach.”

“Okay first of all, Yukie and I are the only managers in here so you could easily be going to meet up with one of the others. And secondly, we have reason to believe that there’s something going on between you and a certain setter~~”   
You’d raised an eyebrow, about to argue when Yukie’s voice sounded from the doorway, “Yeah, because at lunch Akaashi couldn’t stop gawking at you.”

You’d shut your mouth then, not being able to think up a reply for that. Hana had spoken up instead, “Normally that wouldn’t be too weird because after all, our sources say he’s involved in this weird competition the boys have got going on - no no, shush, let me finish - except he was facing away from you so to look at you he had to turn his body almost fully around. So he must’ve really wanted to get a look at you. Oh! And when we were leaving the canteen, Runa saw you glance over at him, and she says you were blushing.”

Yukie had barked out a laugh, “You sly dog.”

“Look, I don’t know about looking at him and blushing or whatever,” you’d sighed. “But there’s definitely nothing going on between us.”

Hana had narrowed her eyes, “Really?”

“Promise.”

You’d watched the two girls exchange a look, before Hana nodded and Yukie’s arms were around you, mimicking Hana’s earlier stance. “Fine, you can go for your walk, but we’ll be keeping an eye on you and all your conquests.”

She’d moved to stand beside Hana, devilish smirks on both their faces, “All of them.” Hana repeated, emphasised with a waggle of her eyebrows. You’d rolled your eyes once more and left.

You couldn’t help the deep sigh that bubbled up when you remembered their suspicion. Not that they weren’t still suspicious of you, but you’d managed to successfully distract them from their first target. It was a good thing they were paying extra attention to the things you were doing, because the subtle way you made your eyes linger a little too long on certain people would be difficult to pick up by anyone else. Your lingering gazes, coupled with soft smiles when you finally pulled your eyes away made it seem like you were completely smitten with whoever you’d been staring at. All you had to do was make sure you played this routine for several different boys, and the girls eventually started to believe you were fickle, too fickle to actually do anything about your feelings, and therefore too fickle to spend your evenings with someone.

You did feel bad for deceiving your friends like this, but then you reminded yourself that tonight was the last night of doing so, and then the guilt didn’t hurt as much.

You absentmindedly kicked a stone, the noise of it clacking against the gravel sounding over your music. You watched it until it came to a stop, a window not far from its resting place suddenly lighting up. You stared at it for a second, wondering who could be in this area of campus at this time, and why. 

Turning your music down, a new sound began to fill the air. It was also music, a soft and calm melody that made you feel at ease. It took you a moment to realise that it was coming from the newly inhabited room, which gave you a couple of options as to what the reason for it might’ve been.

  1. It could be someone who, much like yourself, wanted to clear their head. Perhaps they had discovered this room and made it into a kind of den for themselves? Lord knew you had found many such places for yourself in and around campus.
  2. There was an unspoken rule in training camp, which said that if the light was on in the changing room in the middle of the night, it was ‘occupied’. Of course this wasn’t the middle of the night, and it definitely wasn’t a changing room. But maybe whoever this was, they couldn’t wait until free practice had ended.



You felt your face heat up immensely at the latter, but your curiosity won out over any embarrassment or disgust and you quickly located the door that led into this part of the school.

Pulling it open - you thanked every deity you could think of that it didn’t creak or make some other noise that would alert anyone of your whereabouts, that second possibility was still a very real one after all- you heard the music even louder. You were no expert, but it was definitely a classical piece, an orchestral number with strings being the most apparent section. It was beautiful, and you found yourself smiling despite your situation.

As you walked down the corridor and towards the door with the sliver of light shining out from underneath and around it, you became aware of a male voice humming along. The voice was young, and despite the lack of words being spoken you were sure you recognised it.  _ One of the volleyball players, then? _

Close inspection of the area told you that the door was to a classroom, although you couldn’t make out exactly what type in the dark. Further inspection revealed that the door was slightly ajar, and you were able to push it open slightly without making any noise, just far enough so that you could peek inside.

The only word that came to mind to describe what you were feeling was awe.

Awe because the person inside wasn’t just listening to the music, they were dancing to it. In circles, in steps of one-two-three, one-two-three. You hadn’t even realised the melody was a waltz but here you were, watching the graceful movements of someone performing such a dance. When they spun around so that their face was to the door, you saw who it was.

Head tilted slightly back, eyes closed to fully hear the music, you had already believed Akaashi Keiji to be pretty, but in this moment you understood that he was truly beautiful. Shadows cast on his face from the lights overhead, the lightbulbs old so instead of harsh fluorescents, there was a warm glow in the room that highlighted his cheekbones effortlessly. The shadows of his long eyelashes danced around on his face as he moved to the music.

When you took your eyes away from him, you noticed that the floor was empty, piles of chairs and tables pushed haphazardly towards the back of the room to create a space that was perfect for dancing. Underneath one of the windows, you could see a speaker connected to a phone -  _ his  _ phone - which was undoubtedly where the music was emanating from.

You weren’t even aware that you were standing frozen in the doorway ogling the boy in front of you, but there were very few things that would make you un-freeze in that instance.

Unfortunately, Akaashi opening his eyes and noticing you was one of them.

“I’m sorry!” You cried, automatically holding your hands up to shield you from any violence he might throw your way.

You could’ve slapped yourself. Of course Akaashi wouldn’t react like that. After quickly getting over his shock he offered you an innocent smile - which may have seemed innocent to him, but at this stage was like a punch in the gut to you, “It’s okay.”

You blinked, trying to resist the urge to scream, “No, it’s not okay. I should’ve said something, but instead I was just stood here like an idiot. Shit, I didn’t mean to peek, I was just wondering where the music was coming from and then I came here and here you were and you were dancing and you’re a really good dancer and-”

He held a hand up to stop you, “Thank you. And you don’t have to apologise, I wasn’t hiding from anyone.”

“Then why come all the way out here?” You asked, genuinely curious.

He shrugged, “Peace? I don’t mind if someone sees me, but around the main buildings there’s so much noise. The louder I can hear the music, the better.”

“I understand,” you nodded, turning back towards the door. “I’ll let you get back to your dancing though, I won’t be much help sitting here staring like an idiot.”

“Wait!” He called, sounding almost frantic. You looked back, meeting his wide eyes, apparently shocked by his own interruption. He blinked a few times, light pink dusting his cheeks, “I mean, I’ve been practicing a one-sided waltz for a while now, I should really try it with someone else.”

You caught onto his unspoken question, answering with a short, “I can’t dance.”

“I can lead.”

You bit your lip, watching the movement of his arm as he stretched it out towards you. You reached down and removed your shoes, leaving them next to the ones Akaashi had clearly been wearing. You straightened up, hesitantly placing your hand in his own, feeling his strength as he gently pulled you towards him, placing one hand on your waist and gesturing for you to put yours on his arm.

You were glad of the music as the two of you began to move around the room, glad that it was overpowering the sound of your heart, which you could hear thundering in your ears. You weren’t sure if you should be thankful or regretful for your current situation. After all, there was good reason for your roommates to be suspicious of you.

Hana had said Runa noticed you sneaking a peek at Akaashi one day at lunch, and she was entirely correct. You had been looking at him at lunch, and at breakfast, and at dinner, because you couldn’t stop. Seeing him for the first time when you’d introduced yourself to everyone in the gym on day one was like witnessing the view from the top of a hill. Every time you looked you were seeing the same basic picture, but yet it was different to the last time you saw it. One glance might have a flock of birds flying through it, another might see a new addition to the picture, a car or a group of people or a change in the weather. Akaashi was the same, his features were beautiful at all times but there was always something new to look at. Whether it be a soft smile when talking to one of his kouhais, or the way his eyes narrowed when berating Bokuto. You were embarrassed to admit it, but it had become almost like an addiction, a game of ‘How pretty will he look now?’

From a distance you were safe, but when there was only a small gap between the two of you, and the feeling of one of his hands encompassing your own while the other was resting on your hip you were in danger. If your heartbeat sped up any more you were sure to die.

Not two seconds after you thought that, you heard him take a deep breath, and then the hand on your waist was pushing you towards him. Your brain was short-circuiting as you were pressed against him, his shirt far too thin for your liking as you could feel the muscles that he had obtained through years of volleyball. 

“A-Akaashi?” You asked, your voice far too shaky.

He dipped his head down, bringing his mouth close to your ear, “Sorry,” he breathed. “I feel like an idiot for having to admit this, but I’m having a hard time controlling myself around you.”

You gasped softly, his words coupled with the sensation of his breath against your ear sent shivers down your spine, the air in the room heating up and leaving you breathless.

“Then don’t control yourself.” 

There was a pause, a silence in which you realised that the words had come from your mouth, having left without your noticing. You looked up to see him widen his eyes, hand dropping yours and before you had time to think about what was happening that same hand was being placed on your jaw and he was crushing his lips against yours.

The kiss was rough, passionate, the sound of your teeth clanking together enough to make you cringe but the feeling of his tongue licking your lower lip and entering your mouth making everything better.

The sensation of Akaashi - someone who was always so calm and collected - rubbing his tongue against yours in a pace that could only be described as hurried was mindblowing, and you wanted more.

While your mouths were locked, his hands started to roam, the one which had previously been at your waist began to trail up and down your side, the ticklish feeling only making you shudder as the burning in the pit of your stomach began to grow in intensity.

He nipped your lip, the sudden feeling distracting you enough for this hand to find its way to the hem of your shirt without you realising it, and you gasped into his mouth when you felt the skin-on-skin contact of his hand skimming your flesh. Goosebumps formed where his hand was touching, despite it being like a red-hot poker against you.

Your lips parted enough for you to breathe again, and he took this opportunity to kiss his way down to your neck, sucking on a spot that made a moan come tumbling out of your mouth. 

“K-Keiji,” you panted. “Please.”

You felt more than heard him take a sharp intake of breath, and suddenly his hands were cradling your face, eyes meeting your own, all of a sudden completely serious, “Are you sure?” He asked, gaze searching for any hint of reluctance.

He found none. You nodded, “I’m sure.”

You watched as his eyes softened and that gentle smile that you adored so much appeared on his face, before it dropped. “Shit,” he whispered, and you realised that it was the first time you’d heard him swear, an embarrassing throbbing sensation coming from between your legs at the discovery. “We can’t, I don’t have anything.”

You frowned, not entirely understanding what he was talking about. Noticing your confusion, he looked down, your eyes following his gaze until it settled on his crotch. 

Oh.

_ Oh. _

“It’s fine!” You cried, a little too frantic. “I uh, I’m on the pill.” You gave him a sheepish smile, but stopped when you saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. You quickly rushed to explain, “F-For my period! I’ve never-I swear I’ve never…” You trailed off, hoping he knew what you meant.

He seemed to, leaving a peck on your lips, “I understand. Honestly I’m relieved that we can still-” he cut himself off with a nervous cough. “I love you so much.”

Your face was on fire, and you somehow managed to choke out the words, “I love you too.” 

Akaashi looked like a kid on Christmas morning, the smile on his face the widest you’d ever seen it, and it made your heart skip a beat to witness. Slowly he took your hands with his own, lacing your fingers together and gently pushing you down so the two of you were sitting on the floor.

You took a deep breath, your body thrumming with nervous energy, building up in a way that made you begin to panic. Needing an outlet, you pulled him back to your mouth feeling him smirk against your lips at the action. You remembered the feeling of his hands touching your bare skin and you started craving the sensation, so much so that you guided his hands - still attached to your own - to the hem of your shirt. He took the hint, taking hold of it and tugging it off, and you almost groaned at having to break the kiss to get it past your head.

Once it was gone, Akaashi latched his lips back onto your neck, fingers fumbling blindly at the clasp of your bra. You huffed out a laugh, reaching behind to undo it for him, the sound morphing into a groan when your bra was removed and his mouth moved to one of your now bare nipples.

You hadn’t even known you were that sensitive there, but if the painful throb between your legs and the wetness of your underwear were anything to go by, you’d have to do some exploring.  _ Or, _ you reminded yourself,  _ a certain someone could help you with that _ .

That certain someone, you noticed, was still fully clothed and you knew that had to change. His shirt had ridden up ever so slightly due to his movements and a sliver of his back was showing, meaning his stomach should also be visible, although you couldn’t see his front from your current position. Biting your lip in anticipation, you skimmed your fingers along his skin, feeling him gasp against your breast.

He detached his mouth just long enough to whisper, “Take it off,” before replacing his lips onto your other nipple, making you whimper. 

You complied to his wishes, however, frantically lifting the shirt up to his arms, watching as he raised his head to make it easier for you to fully get it off him. Once it had joined your own shirt and bra on the floor, you caught his eyes and smiled at him, feeling almost no nerves as he returned it with a smile of his own, dipping down to give you a kiss on the nose that made you giggle.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed.

“Not as much as you,” you pointed out. “I’d give anything to have abs like  _ these _ .” To prove your point, you ran your fingers down his torso until you reached his belt, teasingly beginning to undo the buckle and smirking when he raised an eyebrow.

“Someone’s eager,” he murmured. You bit your lip, suddenly worried that you’d made a mistake, but he shook his head slightly, “Please.”

You didn’t need to be told twice, hastily undoing his belt and shimmying his jeans past his hips, swallowing audibly when he was left in just his boxers, a noticeable bulge telling you he was as into this as you were. You unconsciously reached a hand out, Akaashi taking a sharp intake of breath when you made contact, his head resting on your shoulder as you traced the outline, adding pressure just so you’d be able to hear his moans.

This continued for a couple of minutes until his hand rested on top of your own, stopping you as he moved back so he was sitting upright. You nearly moaned at the sight of him.

In this whole time you had never once considered your luck. You had known from the start that he was part of the boys’ competition, meaning there was no doubt in your mind that your feelings for him were mutual. So when he kissed you, told you he loved you, and expressed his wishes to sleep with you you didn’t for one second think about how lucky you were. Until now.

Until now, because Akaashi Keiji - the aforementioned calm and collected setter from Fukuroudani - looked absolutely wrecked. Face flushed, pupils blown wide, panting. That was the moment you realised you wanted, no,  _ needed _ to hurry this up.

Your eyes met as you undid the button on your own jeans and pulled down the zipper, removing them so you were left in just your underwear. Your nerves suddenly spiked from being so exposed, but the feeling vanished when you were pulled into an embrace, that both relaxed you and made you blush when you felt exactly how close together your clothed crotches were.

You didn’t even realise that your previous positions were reversed until you were moaning into his shoulder at the sudden stimulation on your clit through your underwear. He was rubbing it in slow circles with his thumb, using the other fingers to softly glide over your labia, far too softly for your liking. You slowly unwrapped your arms from around him, moving them down to your hips so you could remove your underwear, needing the skin-to-skin contact.

He didn’t waste any time once you were fully naked, entering you with one digit, which was quickly followed by a second when he noticed you weren’t uncomfortable in the slightest. He started moving them ever so slightly, making light thrusting motions and crooking his fingers so they perfectly hit your g-spot, his thumb moving so it could continue its motions on your clit.

You knew you could’ve come like this, but the pressure building only made your need grow. His fingers felt amazing, but it wasn’t enough. You grabbed his wrist, stilling his movements, uttering a single, “No,” that made him freeze completely.

“No?”

“No,” you repeated. “I need more.”

You began to remove his boxers, giving a tentative lick to the head of his cock once it was freed and wrapping one hand around it, beginning to pump it slowly, the pre-cum oozing out acting as a makeshift lube for you.

Once his moans started to turn into whines you let go, moving to lie down on the floor, and indicating exactly what you were ready for. He nodded, crawling so he was hovering over you.

“Are you still okay with this?” He asked, searching your eyes once more to make sure.

You smiled at his protectiveness, giving him a nod. “I’m sure.”

He answered your smile, kissing you and using his hands to bend your legs, your feet planted firmly on the floor. You focused on kissing him when you felt his head against your entrance, forcing yourself to relax as much as possible.

“Fuck!”

You hadn’t expected him to be that quick about it, and the sudden transition from being empty to almost painfully full was overwhelming. You inadvertently squeezed around him as you tried to get used to the feeling.

“Does it hurt?” He panted from above you.

“N-No, it’s just….uh, deep? Full? One of those words.” You were having trouble thinking.

“Can I move?”

“Please,” you begged, and he bent his head down to attach his lips onto your neck, sucking what was probably the third hickey of the night.

Slowly he pulled out, the feeling of being full disappearing momentarily, leaving an ache inside you that was then satiated by a hard thrust that made you groan.

“Sh- _ Shit,  _ Keiji!”

“Something wrong?”

You knew that tone, but you’d never heard it coming from him.  _ That little shit… _

“Yes, something’s very wrong.” He froze, head snapping up. Before he had a chance to ask, you whispered, “You’re not fucking me fast enough.” 

The groan you got in response, you decided, was half because of your words and half because of your teeth sinking into his shoulder once they’d left your mouth.

He grabbed your hips and you hooked your feet together behind his back, the action causing him to sink even deeper inside you, which meant a louder moan from both of you, but not as loud as the sounds you produced when he actually sped up his hips.

You began to realise your mistake when the coil in your stomach from earlier became apparent, and it only wound tighter when he brought one hand to your core and resumed his previous stimulation on your clit.

“Keiji,” you groaned. “I can’t-I’m not going to last.”

“Me neither,” he said through gritted teeth.

His thrusting became more erratic, more frantic, as he got faster and faster, deeper and deeper, the pressure inside you building and building, and you clenched tighter around him.

“Fuck! Shit, I can’t I’m…...AH!”

Instead of letting out a loud moan like you thought would happen, your mouth opened in a silent scream when you finally tipped over the edge, walls squeezing around Akaashi as you heard him finishing above you, expletives and your name coming out of him. You didn’t notice much else at that point, vision having whited out and your mind a complete blank. As you started to come down, from the high you felt a wetness inside you that was definitely not your own, but your momentary panic subsided when you felt the weight of Akaashi lying on top of you, head resting on your chest as he panted away the after-effects of his orgasm.

“Hey Keiji?”

“Hm?”

“Doing this the night before we leave probably wasn’t a good idea.”

He moved off you ever so slightly so he could look at your face, “Why’s that?”

You looked at him sadly, “Because I’m going to miss you too much.”

You hadn’t even noticed the tears gathering in your eyes until one slipped down your cheek. Akaashi’s eyes widened for a split second before he was holding you, kissing away the fallen tears and whispering reassurances into your skin.

By the time the two of you fell asleep, you had made plans to call each other every day, and to organise as many Skype calls as possible, whether for chatting purposes or for...other reasons. You also promised that at some point during the remainder of the holidays you would set up a visit to Tokyo.

As you drifted off, neither of you noticed the waltz that was still playing in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. That was my first time ever writing smut (probably why it took me about a fortnight to write it) so please please please let me know if it was okay. Constructive criticism is always welcome my friends.
> 
> (Also: I feel I should let you know that at the end when reader's like "Hey Keiji" I almost made her say "I was lying when I said I was on the pill" but then I was like no Rebecca, you may enjoy accidental pregnancy as a plot device but you are fully among a minority there)


	16. My Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Love (Asahi Azumane)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She returns! Back from the dead! 
> 
> It's been almost 5 months holy shit. Hhholy shit. So much has happened. I'm an adult now, I have responsibilities.  
> Also remember at the end of Terushima's chapter I said I wanted an industrial piercing? I got it 5 days after I posted Akaashi's chapter and it's been fully healed for nearly 2 months now. How time flies.  
> Anyway, hopefully this isn't just a fluke and I actually write some more chapters that don't take me years to finish, so please enjoy this chapter before it becomes a one-off.

This...was _not_ the canteen.

This was nowhere near the canteen, or at least it didn’t seem to be. You definitely didn’t recognise the corridor you were in, and you were positive that the rooms along it and the posters on the wall were completely alien to you.

You mentally chided yourself. You hadn’t meant to sleep in, you’d wanted to be up in time for your first breakfast of the training camp, but of course your body didn’t comply. Hitoka had kindly woken you up before she and the others left, asking if you wanted her to wait for you so that you didn’t have to walk there by yourself. You should’ve said yes, but in your half-asleep state you decided you could make the trip for food all on your own.

Never before had you been so wrong.

Of course you knew you wouldn’t stay lost for long. One small trip through the nearest door to the outside would tell you exactly where you were going. It was in this moment you were thankful that the Shiratorizawa campus was so damn big, because the maps placed at random intervals in the middle of the walkways would be coming to your rescue this morning.

First you had to find a door outside though, and this was proving to be much more difficult than you’d first thought.

“Why does this place have to be so big,” you muttered, clenching your teeth as your stomach made an answering noise, reminding you why you were in such a hurry to reach your destination.

Deciding that continuing in this direction would probably be futile, you changed your course, instead turning back the way you came in the hope of finding either food or a door, whichever came first.

You could’ve slapped yourself. Not even two minutes later you arrived in a part of the school you recognised, but before you could give so much as a sigh of relief, you froze in place.

There was a sound coming from a classroom on your left. It was quiet, but you could definitely make out the sound of sniffling. Was someone crying?

Two steps closer to the door answered that question. Someone was definitely crying, and by the sounds of it it was someone young, probably a first year. You were about to check to make sure they were okay when a second voice started speaking.

“Maharu-kun, are you still not used to being away from home?” The voice spoke. The person sounded older, so you guessed that it must be a teacher, and whoever it was was clearly very kind, this much you could tell in the soft and gentle tone of voice, comforting the crying boy instead of belittling him for getting homesick so easily.

There was a pause, and the boy must’ve shook his head because the second voice spoke again, “Why don’t we dry your tears and then we can go and get some breakfast?” The footsteps accompanying the words came closer to the door, where you were unceremoniously crouched to try and hear better. As the door opened you shot upright, but then froze.

It’s not wrong to say that everyone reacts to shocks in different ways, but freezing in place was unfortunately your way of dealing with the situation, meaning that you not only looked pathetic in general, but you looked pathetic in front of _one of the most attractive men you’ve ever seen_.

You nearly slapped yourself at the thought, reminding yourself that this guy had to be in his mid-20s at least, and teacher-student relationships were still pretty illegal.

Thankfully you weren’t the only one looking shocked, as said handsome teacher had paled significantly and didn’t know what to do.

You nervously laughed, “S-Sorry! I got lost on the way to the canteen, and I was gonna try and retrace my steps and I got here and then heard someone crying, and I was gonna help but then I heard you, and you just sounded so sweet that I just kinda stopped to listen? Shit that sounds so creepy doesn’t it? I swear I’m not weird, but you probably think that I am, and now I’m _rambling_ -”

“It’s fine!” He said hurriedly, following it with a nervous laugh of his own and a soft smile, “Y-You’re Coach Ukai’s neice, aren’t you?”

You blinked, momentarily blinded by this man who was so large yet so angelic, “Yes! I mean yes, I am. Do you know him? Uncle Keishin, I mean.”

He brought a hand to the back of his head and scratched awkwardly, “Well yeah, he’s my Coach.”

“Huh?....Oh…..OH. I’m so sorry! You just look so mature, I thought for sure you were a teacher.”

He huffed a laugh, “You’re not the only one.”

You decided to change the subject, “Are you going to the canteen? I’m still a bit lost.”

He brightened up, “Yes!” He turned behind him and beckoned the crying boy - Maharu - out into the corridor. You were definitely right in your assumption that he was a first year, and he looked even younger than that to be totally honest. His eyes were clearly red and puffy from crying, and he sniffled a little when he saw you.

You waved, “Hi there, Maharu, right?”

He nodded, “You’re the girl who arrived yesterday.”

“That’s me,” You laughed as the three of you started walking, you and Maharu falling into step just behind the other boy. “Is this your first time being away from home?”

“For more than one night, yeah.”

You hummed thoughtfully, “I usually get homesick when I’m away, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

The older boy piped up, “Could it be because your Uncle’s here with you?”

“Maybe! But it’s usually worse when Mum’s in hospital, so you wouldn’t think it’d be balanced out this much by Keishin.” You noticed the boy in front’s shoulders tense at the mention of your Mum’s hospital stay, and hurried to remedy it. “It’s nothing serious! Just routine, but I still worry.” You turned to Maharu. “Usually when I get really homesick I just think about all the things I’ll be doing while I’m gone,” You shrugged. “Maybe I’m not as homesick now because I was so excited about coming here.”

Maharu brightened up a little, “Does thinking about what you’ll be doing help?”

You grinned, “Absolutely. It takes your mind off home, for a start. If you get the hang of it, you’ll be so busy focusing on what you’re doing that before you even realise it it’ll be time to go home again. And do you wanna know something?”

He stared up at you in awe, “What??”

“Once you realise it’s time to go home, you’ll wish you were staying.”

“Really?”

“Really,” you told him, blushing a little as you saw the older boy looking at you curiously from the corner of your eye. Before you had time to question him, you had reached the canteen building, Maharu cheering up considerably and running off to find his friends, after sending a wave to both of you.

“I think you helped him a lot,” The other admitted quietly.

You looked up to find him looking away, clearly embarrassed. You found it endearing. “You never told me your name,” you pointed out.

“A-Asahi. Asahi Azumane.”

You grinned, “Well Asahi, thank you for helping me find my way. This campus is just so massive!”

He laughed softly, and you found yourself in awe at the sound. _He’s just so pretty_ , you couldn’t help but think. Asahi froze suddenly, and you instantly clasped your hands over your mouth as you realised that not all of that sentence had been said mentally. You felt like crawling into a hole, and by the looks of things Asahi wasn’t doing much better. You watched the blood drain from his face, only to return in a much larger capacity, the boy now as bright and red as any tomato.

“...too.”

“Huh?” You asked, unsure if he’d actually said anything or if his panicking now included making random noises.

“Y-You too!”

And then you watched, frozen, as the 6’1” Karasuno player ran, panicking, into the canteen.

***

He was avoiding you.

Yukie wouldn’t stop teasing.

You’d almost yelled at Hitoka for making sure you were okay five times a minute.

All in all, not a good few days.

“So, you nearly snapped at Yachi, _did_ snap at the Fukuroudani girl, and now you’re sittin’ here whinin’ ‘cus you think you’ve lost all your friends.”

You groaned, “Yes.”

You couldn’t see his eyeroll, what with your head being buried in your arms on the canteen table, but being related by blood meant you sure as hell knew it was there. “And which boy is this because of?”

You bolted upright, looking around conspiratorially incase anyone heard, “What have you been told?” You whispered.

Your Uncle looked from side to side, lowering his head slightly and motioning for you to do the same. When your eyes were level, he said, “Nothing.”

The snorting laughter that accompanied your defeated whine made you want to hurt someone.

“You’re just like your Mum, I can tell exactly what the problem is.” You said nothing. He continued, “Who?”

You sighed, “Karasuno.”

He hummed in thought and looked at Takeda to his right, “Sounds like one of our boys has stolen my niece’s heart.” You rolled your eyes at the dramatics.

“Can you give us a clue?” The teacher asked.

“He reminds me of…” You searched for the best comparison. “Admiral Fluff.”

“A-Admiral Fluff?!”

Keishin clicked his fingers, “Asahi.”

You nodded, your face heating up. When Takeda looked at you helplessly you explained, “Admiral Fluff was a teddy bear Uncle Keishin got me when I was born.”

Takeda blinked, “O-Oh.” He thought for a moment, “That actually makes perfect sense.”

Keishin gave you a look, “Thankfully the glarin’ difference between the bear and Asahi is that Asahi never got covered in felt tip pen which didn’t wash out and ended up bein’ decapitated by a pair of scissors.”

You shrugged, “That part of my life is over. I no longer yearn to destroy my teddy bears.”

Takeda glanced somewhere behind you, “I hope not, because he’s here now.”

You turned, as slowly and innocently as possible, to look at the entrance. Unfortunately for you, the ace - you had made sure to learn everything about him from the girls, eager to know the kind of person and player he was - had already been looking at you, and a few tense moments of eye contact were held until he broke it and turned his face away, completely flushed.

You heard yourself groan a little, and from behind you Keishin sighed, “Just go talk to him.”

Realising that taking the lead in things was really the only way you would be able to get something out of it, you grabbed the thankfully unused napkin from beside your plate, and searching your surroundings for a moment before spotting what you needed, you leaned across the table to yank a pen from Takeda’s shirt pocket with a “Sorry, need this.”

Taking a deep breath, you got up from your seat, walking towards the ace who, for some reason, was still stood there and was now looking at your hand curiously and the napkin-note that was clutched within it.

You felt a lot of eyes on you as you slipped it into his own hand and walked out, taking slow breaths to stop yourself from outright hyperventilating, as you made your way to the spot indicated in the note.

You waited for five minutes in the grassy area behind the greenhouse (You totally didn’t count the seconds).

Just when you were ready to give up and head back, content that this was a rejection, you heard footsteps.

You looked up to see Asahi, staring somewhere off to his left, his face the shade of red you were so used to seeing by now, “I-I didn’t want to follow you straight out, I thought that might look a bit strange.”

You couldn’t help yourself. You giggled, “That was pretty smart of you, I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Why did you ask me to come here?” He asked, shuffling his feet ever so slightly.

You hummed, sliding down the greenhouse wall to take a seat on the ground, and patting the space next to you. He joined you, albeit reluctantly, your arms brushing and your heart beating so fast you hoped he couldn’t hear.

The confidence you had built up within the last ten minutes or so was beginning to break down, an uncomfortable feeling now settling in the pit of your stomach at the lack of distance between the two of you.

The silence wore on; you focused on taking deep breaths to calm yourself down, before giving up and deciding to actually say something.

“Do you really think I’m pretty?” You asked, staring straight ahead and trying your damn hardest not to look at him.

You didn’t see his reaction, but the little breath hitch told you enough, “I think you’re beautiful.” He whispered.

It almost _hurt_ how much your heart rate sped up.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” you replied, internally cursing your own cheesiness.

He didn’t seem to mind, “Really? Most people are scared of me.”

You turned to look at him, “Those people are idiots.”

Your eyes met and you had to remind yourself to breathe. _This isn’t good_ , you found yourself thinking, noticing his eyes drop down to look at something at the bottom of your face. _What’s he looking at? Do I have something on my chin? Did I-oh my god. He’s looking at my lips. He’s_ staring _at them what do I do?_

Thinking back on it, you realised you probably could’ve been a bit subtler and gentler about the whole thing, but in the moment your knee-jerk reaction was to lean forward as fast as possible and kiss him before either of you changed your minds about being there.

He was as shocked at your actions as you were, and you half expected him to push you away but instead he relaxed, leaning into you ever so slightly to create a first kiss that was equal parts breathtaking and sweet.

“Are you two...kissing?”

You snapped apart at the new voice, heads turning to see exactly who had joined you.

It was almost poetic that it was Maharu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who hates that ending? Me! I do!
> 
> Nevertheless I hope you liked it and I really hope that the next chapter is one of my faves (I randomise the number, so I have no idea who it might be), I know loads of people want Daichi and honestly? so do I.


	17. I'll Be The Guard Dog Of All Your Fever Dreams (Kyoutani Kentarou)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I found out that Kentarou means "Intelligent Big Son" and I'm like.....yes.....there he is.....my intelligent big son....
> 
> I do love my angry wolf child.
> 
> Alternative chapter title: Reader Gets Weird When She's Tired And It Becomes Clear That I Really Want The Next Chapter To Be Daichi's

“He’s glaring at me again,” you whined.

“Just ignore him,” Hana told you, chewing on another rice ball.

You rolled your eyes, “It’s really hard to ignore him when he’s just _staring_.”

A muffled sound from your left told you that Yukie was attempting to speak, but it was a little hard to make her out from under the pile of food currently stuffed in her mouth. You waited until she’d swallowed most of it to hear what she had to say, “Just stare back.”

“Wow thank you, that’s so helpful.”

“Hey,” she said, a hand to her heart in mock hurt. “At least I’m helping.”

You had to give her that; the others had gotten fed up several days ago, now tuning out your near-constant moaning about the Aoba Jousai boy who wouldn’t leave you alone.

“Do you think he hates me?” You asked nervously, a question you had been thinking from the start but had yet to voice until now.

Hitoka nearly fell off her chair, “Of course he doesn’t hate you! He doesn’t even know you!”

“Then why is he _glaring_?”

“Maybe he likes you,” Kiyoko suggested.

There was silence at the table as every head turned to look at the girl. She shrugged.

“There’s no way,” you whispered, more to yourself than anyone else.

You saw Yukie freeze up from the corner of your eye, and when you raised an eyebrow at her she gulped and said, “You don’t think he’s part of the thing, do you?”

You blinked, “What thing?”

“The _thing_!”

You looked around the table, but everyone seemed to be as clueless as you. Yukie sighed, “The thing the boys are doing, the contest or whatever!”

You stilled, taking in her words, before snorting, “Are you kidding me? Absolutely not!”

Kaori frowned from opposite you, “It’s not completely unreasonable.”

Mai nodded, “When I got Kenji to find out who exactly was in the competition he said there were three from Aoba Jousai. We already know about Oikawa,” you shuddered at the memory of _that_ confession. “Oikawa hinted that Iwaizumi was involved, so that leaves one other person.”

“There’s an entire team of people, Mai,” you deadpanned.

She smirked, “I only see one of them taking an interest in you, however.”

You groaned, burying your head in your arms and refusing to move until everyone had left the canteen to start the afternoon matches.

***

You couldn’t sleep.

You turned to your left, closing your eyes.

Nope, still not working.

You turned to your right, trying again.

Nope.

You sighed, turning to lie flat on your back, staring up at the ceiling. Your body was tired, you knew, but your mind was wide awake. And what it was focusing on was the last thing you wanted to think about.

Every time you closed your eyes you saw that same glare. It unnerved you, not because of the suggestion of anger that came with it, but the way you found it...slightly...cute?

Okay, you found it _really_ cute, the way his nose scrunched up right at the bridge, the way his frown made it look like he was pouting. That combined with the hairstyle of someone clearly trying to seem cool made him one of the most adorable people you’d ever seen.

There was no way you could tell anyone these feelings.

While you lay there thinking, a new sound joined the world outside the classroom you were in. A sound that was almost directly underneath the window of said classroom.

Was that...barking?

Yapping was probably the best term for it, the high-pitched yelps coming from a small dog, or maybe a puppy?

The thought excited you, and you darted up to look outside, gingerly stepping over Kiyoko’s glasses and tiptoeing in an effort to make as little noise as possible.

You nearly gasped when you looked out. It _was_ a puppy! It immediately noticed your presence and started bouncing around excitedly, its tail wagging ceaselessly.

You didn’t think twice, putting on your slippers and grabbing a jacket to make your way outside.

The night air was cold despite it being summer, a breeze licking at your bare legs, and you inwardly cursed your love of short pyjamas.

The puppy bounded over to you, immediately nuzzling against your leg and yapping some more. You crouched down and started scratching behind its ear, giggling when it lay down and rolled over for you to scratch its belly.

You were so lost in the joy of the puppy that you didn’t realise there was anything new going on until the dog suddenly bolted upright, and only then did you notice that someone was whistling from behind one of the buildings to your right.

“Wait!” You called after it, following it to make sure it would be okay, ready to save it from whoever was beckoning it over, and trying to remember if dog kidnappers were a thing.

You needn’t have worried; reaching the destination of the mysterious whistler you stopped dead in your tracks.

Surrounded by several puppies similar to the one you had found, and an older dog who was clearly their mother, was the very person who had been keeping you awake.

His shock wore off a lot quicker than yours. “What are you doing here?” He grunted.

You looked down at your feet, trying not to think about how this was the first time you’d spoken to him, “I couldn’t sleep. Then I heard barking.”

You sat down around where the puppies were, and they immediately ran over to see who the newcomer was. The one who you had found - you now could see it was the smallest of the litter - climbed up onto your lap. You laughed slightly, “Are they strays?” You asked, looking up to see him looking at you strangely. “What?”

At this point you couldn’t believe how thankful you were for the wall lights illuminating the walkways, because it meant you could clearly see the red that dusted his cheeks from being caught staring at you.

“Yeah, they’re strays.”

“That’s so sad,” you mused. “Why anyone would want to give up these babies I’ll never know.” To prove your point, you lifted the one on your knee up to your face and kissed it on the nose. It licked yours in response and you gasped, looking over at Kyoutani, “Did you see that? He kissed me!”

His blush darkened, “Yeah I saw.”

You were enjoying this. Every action from the boy was making you more confident, and you were now more than sure that he was the third Aoba Jousai member involved in the contest.

“When did you find them?” You asked, watching with amusement as he absentmindedly stroked the older dog.

“First night. Heard one of the pups barking.”

You tried to fight a smile at his blunt way of talking, “That’s just like how I found them then.” A thought crossed your mind, and at two o’clock in the morning you had all the confidence in the world to voice it. “I think I was luckier though,” when he looked at you curiously you shrugged. “You just found the dogs, but I found you as well.”

He froze, and you worried momentarily if you’d broken him. When he finally moved - to look to his right, and therefore away from you - you noticed that the tips of his ears were bright red.

You couldn’t help yourself. He was adorable, and you just _had_ to tease him.

As quietly as possible, you scooted closer to him. He didn’t seem to notice, still staring off into space and avoiding looking in the area around you. You leaned forward, until your face was inches away from his own.

“Hey, Kyoutani,” you whispered.

The reaction was perfect. He immediately jumped, snapping his head around to look at you and, unknowingly, putting his mouth on a collision course right for your own.

It only lasted a few seconds before he jolted backwards, breaking contact and sprawling out on the concrete beneath him.

“What was that for?” He barked, a furious blush on his cheeks and over the bridge of his nose.

You sniggered, “I already kissed _those_ puppies, I wanted to kiss _this_ one, too!” You found yourself yawning, “But I think I should get back to bed.” You stood up, brushing yourself off and sending a wave to the puppies, an extra little scratch given to the one you’d found first, “Bye, puppies!” You looked at Kyoutani, waving at him and then winking, “Bye-bye Kentarou!”

You were going to sleep well tonight.

***

Fuck.

You fucked up.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Hitoka asked once more, clipping her hair up.

“Fine,” you muttered.

She sent you one last look of concern before skipping out to get her breakfast. The other girls had gone on ahead already. Not you, though. You had come to a decision as soon as you’d woken up: you were _never_ getting out of bed again.

Your immediate thought when you opened your eyes an hour earlier was “Wow, what a weird dream,” but seeing your jacket placed - or rather, thrown - directly in front of your face, and the smell coming off it that was distinctly dog-like made you realise the truth of the situation.

You’d known that two-o’clock-sleep-deprived-you was a giggly and outlandish person, but you’d never known just how spur-of-the-moment you could actually be.   

You had _kissed_ him.

You don’t know what you felt worst about: that you potentially took his first kiss - you couldn’t imagine him being very experienced romantically - or that you tricked him into it.

You lay there for a while longer, switching every so often to stare at the ceiling, then the window, then the blackboard, then burying your face into your pillow so all you could see was blackness.

After about half an hour or so you heard a light knock at the door. It was one of your pillow-face-smooshing rotations, so a muffled groan was your only response.

“Your Uncle’s worried about you,” came the deep and slightly gruff voice, one that you knew belonged to Karasuno’s very own captain.

You could tell from Daichi’s tone that Keishin wasn’t the only one worried about you. It still comforted you to know that his father-like protectiveness now stretched out to include you as well.

“I’m not hungry,” you whined.

You heard a sigh, followed by footsteps that stopped when they reached you. A little grunt from effort and you peeked out to see him kneeling down to your left.

He tilted his head slightly, “Did something happen?”

You sat up properly, knowing full well your hair was a mess but not caring enough to do something about it, “Yes.”

“Is this to do with the Aoba Jousai kid?”

You froze, giving him a wide-eyed stare. He grinned, “Yacchan filled me in.”

“Dammit Hitoka,” you swore, looking back at Daichi. “Yes, it’s to do with him.”

He wrinkled his nose up ever so slightly, “Does this also explain why your jacket smells like a dog?”

You sighed, “Do you want the full story?”

He nodded encouragingly, and you took a deep breath, “Basically Kyoutani’s been staring at me since I first arrived and yesterday at breakfast Yukie figured he might be involved in the competition thing between some of the boys-”

“He is,” Daichi cut in.

“Yeah, well I know that _now_ , but- hold on. How do you- actually, never mind. Not important. _Anyway_ , once she said that, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and then last night I couldn’t sleep because I was still thinking way too hard. And then I heard barking, so I looked outside and saw a puppy, and naturally I went out to see it because how can I say no to a puppy? Then not long after I went out someone started whistling, and the puppy ran off towards them and I followed it and there was Kyoutani!”

You paused for a breath, and Daichi blinked, “That’s...a lot to take in.”

You groaned, “That’s not the weirdest part. It was 2am and I was exhausted, so I was in a bit of a weird mood. I started acting all cutesy because it was getting a reaction out of him, and then I said something really cheesy and he looked away so I moved myself and my face closer and then said his name so that when he turned to look at me I basically kissed him. And then I left.”

The silence stretched on. You felt bad for Daichi, knowing he wasn’t sure exactly what to think of all this.

“In my defense, I was really tired.”

Daichi rubbed a hand over his eyes, “All I can say is, you’re not the only one clearly freaked out about what happened last night.”

You caught the meaning behind his words, “Is he okay?!”

He chuckled slightly, “Aoba Jousai is playing a match at the minute, but I don’t think he’ll be in it. Every time someone walks through the gym door his head snaps up to see who it is, and he keeps looking disappointed. One of the other players must’ve asked him about it, because all of a sudden he went bright red. That’s when Yacchan told me about you.”  
You brought your knees up, leaning your forehead on them and groaning, “He probably hates me now.”

“I think it’ll take a bit more than that for him to hate you.”

You rolled your head slightly so your cheek was now resting on one of your knees, and you could clearly see Daichi’s grin, “Really?”

“Really. But you need to talk to him. And I need to get back to practice.” He started walking back out to the corridor before stopping and turning back round to look at you, “You also need to eat something.”

And here you thought you’d only have one family member at the training camp.

***

You’d made sure to pull on your sweats before leaving tonight, but found that the breeze wasn’t as strong as it had been the night before, so the temperature was pleasant enough as you walked towards the place where the dogs had been.

You were earlier than last night, the time not even being midnight yet, but you were prepared enough to wait for him to come.

The puppies greeted you in much the same way, the little one you’d met first - you now dubbed him the creative name of ‘Spot’ due to his fur patterns - immediately grabbing your attention. There were no other humans around, so you sat down, your back to the wall of the building behind which the dogs had made their home.

You weren’t sure how long you played with the puppies, but you were having the time of your life until you felt that something was off. Naturally as soon as you looked up you made eye contact with the very person you were here for.

As gently as you could, you waved and beckoned him over.

You saw more than heard him huff before he made his way over to you. You fought a laugh at his pouting face. “I didn’t think you’d be back,” he said bluntly.

You smiled, “I couldn’t not come back and see the puppies!” You bit your lip, “Also, I really wanted to talk to you. About last night, I-”

“You didn’t mean it, did you?”

You froze, blinking in confusion, “What?”

“You didn’t mean it, you regret it, you wish it hadn’t happened. That’s why you’ve been avoiding me all day, right?” There was a real sadness in his eyes, and your heart ached.

“That’s not true in the slightest,” you said, trying to put as much meaning as possible into that one sentence.

“Then why?” He said softly, and the pain in your chest grew. You had no idea he was capable of speaking so earnestly.

“I thought _you_ regretted it. I thought you’d hate me for it. But, you are a little right,” he looked worried and you shook your head. “I regret that it happened like that. I was exhausted, and I thought it was a great idea to tease and trick you like that. I felt awful when I woke up, I’m really sorry.”

He rolled his eyes and moved so he was kneeling in front of you. Almost as soon as you noticed the heavy blush on his face he’d reached a hand out and lifted your chin up, bringing his face down to meet yours in a short yet sweet kiss.

He broke it, and you giggled, “What was that for?”

He looked away, and you saw that his pout was back, “Now we’re even.”

You grinned, “But you didn’t really trick me into that, it was just a pretty straightforward kiss.”

“Do you want me to do it again, then?” He growled.

You put on a face of mock disgust, saying “No way,” and waiting until he looked at you with hurt so you could move in and return the kiss, crushing your lips together and deepening it just so you could taste him, before pulling away and whispering, “I win,” your breath fanning over his now red lips.

A small yap from beside your right knee was the only background noise as he pulled you back towards him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever since I first heard Asahi called Yachi 'Yacchan' I have been In Love™ so I had to include it.


	18. You're So Contagious. I Can't Take It. (Tanaka Ryuunosuke)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand she's back. I had wanted to post this chapter yesterday because I was supposed to go to Dublin for the day today, but my anxiety played up big time and I stayed home, which meant I got this finished. 
> 
> Also I originally had Tanaka talking super rough, like worse than Keishin, but then I read his dialogue back and thought it was overkill, so I reined it in a little.

“What is that and why does it have my name on it?” You asked, staring down at the incriminating pink envelope currently situated on top of your futon.

Yukie wasted no time in shoving past you, racing over to the space where you slept and grabbing the object in question. She turned it around so that everyone in the room could see the little red heart sticker sealing the envelope shut.

She looked up at you with a wide grin, “It’s a love letter!” She squealed.

You sighed, walking fully into the room and plopping yourself down opposite the girl, “Open it up and read me out the bad news.”

She didn’t need to be told twice, and soon a loud snort filled the room, “Holy shit, this is terrible. Sorry, sorry, okay, here goes,” she cleared her throat. “‘Hey girl, are you a camera? Because every time I look at you I smile.’ ‘Are you butt dialling? Because I swear that ass is calling me.’” She stopped reading to breathe between snickers, “Last one. ‘There’s something wrong with my phone. It doesn’t have your number in it.’ And then- oh my god. He left his number!”

You rolled your eyes, “I was going to tell you off for automatically skipping to ‘he’ but I don’t think any girl on the planet would write something as bad as that.”

Kaori - who had sat herself down beside her fellow manager in the midst of the letter-reading - shyly took the paper and read over it, before glancing up at you. “Are you going to text him?”

You frowned, “I hadn’t even considered it.”

“Dude, you have to!” 

“No-one says I  _ have  _ to, Yukie. I don’t even know who it is.”

“There is a way of finding out.”

The three pairs of eyes that had been latched onto the letter now swivelled around to stare at the girl occupying the space underneath the room’s window. Her eyes shone bright under her glasses.

“What’s your idea?” You asked her.

Kiyoko gently set her book down beside her and lifted up her phone, “There are four schools here that have managers, three that don’t. We can see if any of us have the number on the letter already saved in our phones, and if no-one has it, we can assume that the number belongs to someone in one of the three remaining schools.”

Yukie sniggered, “No wonder she has so many fans.”

Kiyoko continued, “I think it’s safe to assume that whoever wrote that letter was involved in the..competition,” she gave you an apologetic look, “and because the majority of those who were involved go to Karasuno, I’ll go first.”

You watched, barely breathing, as Kiyoko reached down, opened up her phone’s contacts, and began to type in the number. A few seconds later she spoke. 

“There’s a match,” she said softly.

Yukie barked out a laugh, “And not even five minutes later the mystery is solved. Who is it?”

She looked at you with an unreadable expression, “It’s Tanaka.”

You grit your teeth.

***

Your concentration was snapped away from the book in front of you when the classroom door opened, the managers returning after the morning practices to have a rest until lunch was ready.

“How’d the matches go?” You asked casually, quickly finding your place in the book and continuing to read.

There was a silence which caused you to glance up again and witness Kiyoko and Hitoka giving each other a strange look, “What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing!” Hitoka flailed.

You looked at Kiyoko and raised an eyebrow. She sighed, “Tanaka was asking about you. He wanted to know if you got the letter or not.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him you weren’t too pleased that he was continuing to chase after you despite you saying you wanted nothing to do with the competition-”

“Damn straight.”

“-And he said that had nothing to do with it, and that he genuinely liked you.”

You snorted, “Yeah right! He’s probably still playing that stupid game, hoping he can win. I’m not falling for it.”

Hitoka sat down beside you, taking a deep breath, “U-Um, I really don’t think he’s lying.”

Her surprisingly serious tone despite the softness to her voice made you set your book down and turn to face her, “I’m listening.”

“Tanaka might always seem loud and scary, but I think he really cares about people. A-And, um, when you told him to break off the competition, he went round to everyone involved and made sure they knew you weren’t okay with things. He even argued with a few people, which was k-kinda frightening.”

You rubbed the back of your neck, “I didn’t know that.”

Kiyoko cleared her throat, “Hitoka’s right, Tanaka won’t be doing this because of the contest.”

You let their words sink in for a minute, before sighing and rubbing a hand across your eyes, “I should talk to him, shouldn’t I?”

You heard more than saw Kiyoko’s smile, “I think that would be best.”

The whole way to the canteen to get your lunch you thought about Tanaka. Or, more accurately, you thought about what the girls had said about him. You supposed they were telling the truth - they did know him quite well, after all - but you still weren’t ready to run up to him and accept his confession (if you could call the atrocious pick-up line filled love letter a confession).

You had shut the competition down on your first morning at camp. Walking into the canteen for breakfast had every boy in the room looking at you, conversations at every table suddenly ending because of your arrival. 

You had assumed it was because you were a new girl, and that’s why you were the talk of the training camp, but when Yukie approached you after the morning practices and explained, grim-faced, exactly what Bokuto had been talking about to a disinterested Akaashi during time-outs, you couldn’t believe your ears.

The fact that two dozen boys in the camp were playing some kind of game specifically to get you to date them made you see red, and once you heard the names of the two boys who were in charge of the entire thing, you’d sought them out.

Tanaka was the easiest to get to, what with being on Keishin’s team, and your heated explanation - which had really been more of a verbal fight, with absolutely no retaliation on his end - caused him to promise to break everything off. Of course you now realised that his many apologies had actually been pretty genuine, but at the time they’d fallen on deaf ears.

When you finally reached the canteen with Kiyoko and Hitoka, the other five girls already being there and eating, you made sure to look as far away from the occupied tables as possible, positive that you knew the identity of the pair of eyes you could feel watching you.

Your guess proved right when you sat down opposite Yukie and she informed you that, “Pick-up line boy’s watching you” in between spoonfuls of yogurt.

Your desire to ignore her was proving to be more difficult to execute, as her constant chiming of “He’s still watching you” or “He glanced over, I think he's blushing” every five minutes or so was really getting on your nerves.

Once your breakfast was eaten you had wanted to stick around and keep talking to the girls, but another message from Yukie that Tanaka had looked over again made you finally snap. 

“I’m going to talk to him,” you all but spat out, rising from your seat to aggressively dump your trash and leave back your tray.

Catching his eye - because  _ of course _ he was already watching you - you beckoned him to follow with a sharp flick of your wrist, before stomping out the door before everyone in the room caught on.

You didn’t go far, resigning to wait for him against the wall of the main building beside the canteen. It was almost irritating when he saw you and beamed.

“What did you want me comin’ out here for?” He asked, trying and failing to wipe the smile off his own face. 

You suppressed an eye roll, “I wanted to talk about something, namely the letter you sent me.” You held up a hand when he went to speak, wanting to get everything out, “If you’re only doing this because the competition’s still on and you’re just keeping it a secret from me, just remember that my Uncle is your Coach, and he won’t be too pleased when he finds out about it.”

You watched the boy’s face pale, “I’m not!” He yelled and you automatically flinched away from the noise. “Sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at ‘ya, but I’m really not doin’ this because’a the competition, I swear.” 

“You’re sure?”

“Positive! I’m doin’ this because uh,” he paused, a blush beginning to form on his cheeks before he cleared his throat and stood up straighter, puffing out his chest, “Because I like ‘ya!”

A laugh bubbled out of your throat before you could work on stopping it, and you watched as his face fell. You waved a hand frantically, “Now I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh, but you’re actually sort of cute.”

His look of disgust at being called something like ‘cute’ made you laugh harder. It surprised you how quickly your previous anger had dissipated, but you figured it was because of how honest this boy seemed. Your first instinct was to trust him, and although earlier this morning that would’ve been the last thing you would’ve wanted to do, it now made sense to you.

He rubbed a hand behind his neck sheepishly, “So, uh, you haven’t said anythin’ about me likin’ you yet.”

“Oh,” you started, because he was right of course. “Well, I don’t really know how to feel yet. I barely know you. But I would like to try being friends, at least for a start.”

He seemed more than okay at that answer, “Yeah! I mean yes, that’d be alright with me.”

You smirked, “Excellent.”

***

Being friends with Tanaka was like being friends with a rollercoaster, you came to realise. 

At times it was calm and pleasant, other times you had a feeling of dread that something big was coming, and with how much he liked pranking people, this feeling often accompanied a scream from someone who’d just been covered in flour or - like that one time when you had to hug a victimised Yamaguchi close to you while stroking his back in an attempt to get him to stop crying - spiders. But, overall, being around Tanaka was a lot of fun, and you didn’t want it to end.

In the five days since becoming closer platonically, you'd also grown closer to the entire Karasuno team, and being with Tanaka meant that, by default, you were also with Noya or Yamamoto, or often both.

You’d also recently discovered just how kind the crew-cut boy could be, often sitting down with you and listening to you talk, about things that scared you or stressed you out, and when he brought an arm up to flex his bicep and say “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!” You found yourself giggling in a way that made his eyes sparkle. 

It was Day 6 of the Tanaka friendship - and your ninth day of camp - when things changed. 

You hadn’t meant to listen into the conversation going on behind you, but when you’d seen Noya and Tanaka looking suspicious when you’d first walked through the canteen doors, and you’d noticed that the managers were occupying the table behind them, and you’d also noticed that there was an empty seat directly behind where the two boys were sitting, you’d sent a prayer up to whoever was listening that these events had come to pass. 

You’d filled your tray and gotten situated at the table in record time, thankful that the two boys you were spying on - did it count as spying if it was only aurally? - were stupid enough not to see that you were there and within earshot. You tuned your hearing into their conversation, and nearly dropped your fork. They were talking about  _ you _ .

“Do you still like her?” Noya asked, audibly chewing something. 

Tanaka made a noise of confusion, followed by “Why would I not like her anymore?”

“Uh, because you’ve been acting like you’re her GBFF or something, like you haven’t flirted with her or anything.”

“Okay first of all that’s pretty offensive dude, come on. Secondly, I don’t wanna make her uncomfortable, she just wants to be friends.”

Noya scoffed, “Sure she does.”

You felt your face heat up,  _ What is he talking about? _

Tanaka must’ve made a facial expression to match your thoughts because Noya continued, “She likes you, dude. It’s obvious.”

Tanaka spluttered. 

You spluttered.

“No, she doesn’t!”  _ Yeah, no I don’t, Noya, what the hell? _

“She does. I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”

“Uh, like a friend?”

“Nah dude, it’s obvious she finds you attractive.” You nearly laughed,  _ Well yeah I find him attractive, because he  _ is _ attractive. And he has really nice muscles, too. But I don’t  _ like  _ him. That’s ridiculous.  _

“You think she finds me attractive?” Tanaka asked quietly.

“Bro, absolutely. You’re hot.”  _ Yeah, he is. Uh, but that's obvious, I’m definitely not the only one that thinks so haha.  _

“Thanks, bro.”  _ Yeah, Noya, thanks for telling him something  _ I  _ should be telling him. Wait no, I didn’t mean that. I’m just thinking it because I’m still remembering him shirtless.Yeah, that’s it. Anyone would fall in love with those muscles.  _

While deciphering your inner turmoil, you didn’t notice their conversation move on until you heard something to make you freeze.

“I just really want to kiss her,” Tanaka sighed. 

Noya’s reply was fuzzy, all your concentration being forced into staring a hole clean through the table opposite you, trying your damn hardest not to think about Tanaka kissing you. 

You were failing. 

You were beginning to regret getting so close to him so quickly, because now you could accurately picture Tanaka, from every detail on his face right down to his scent, and it wasn't hard to take that image and bring it closer to you, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the feeling of his lips on yours, rough and chapped because he didn’t bother to look after them properly, the way his eagerness would translate through to his kissing, the way his muscles would flex under your hands and how it would feel to have his sharp teeth - and they  _ were _ sharp, always reminding you of a shark - nip at your lip, him licking away any blood that might be created by the action, and then him breaking away to kiss his way down your neck, your hands stroking through the soft hairs on his head-

Fuck.

Your face was burning. The conversation behind you was still ongoing, but the two boys were now talking animatedly with Hinata about who they would prank next. Nobody noticed the thoughts that had passed through your mind, and you made a split-second decision to leave before anyone could ask why your face now resembled a large bottle of ketchup. 

You were going to kill that boy.

***

Whoever said the words “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” was a downright liar. 

Absence didn’t make your heart grow fonder, absence made your heart momentarily forget, and then when you saw the object of your affec- _ thoughts _ , the object of your thoughts, you were reminded of everything you had been imagining for the past few days in stunning clarity. 

Which is exactly why you were avoiding him. 

You’d been playing it cool, so he fully believed that your reasons for suddenly not hanging out with him anymore were because you wanted to finish your current book, or you wanted to beat the next level on your game, or you simply weren’t in the mood to be around so many people. He didn’t suspect a thing. 

You were also starting to think the managers were catching on, starting at dinner that same day you'd overheard Tanaka and Noya talking. You hadn’t exactly been subtle when Tanaka had laughed heartily at something a few tables away and you’d groaned quietly. The look of confusion Hana had given you that had quickly morphed into a sly grin told you she’d understood everything. This continued through the days, with each girl in turn figuring out what was almost constantly running through your mind. 

The realisation that you were running out of time came very late, right at the end of camp to be precise. In fact, it was one of your last thoughts before falling asleep, and in your hazy and drowsy state you didn’t fully grasp what that meant. You decided you’d figure it out in the morning, before drifting off into your last sleep at Shiratorizawa. 

You knew something was off as soon as you woke up the next morning, but when your eyes focused and you saw clothes being hastily packed into bags and futons being tidied up, it clicked. 

This was the last day. You were  _ leaving  _ today. How could you have forgotten?

You would've sped straight out the classroom door if not for the dirty looks you got from the other girls, guilting you into cleaning up before leaving.

Having a head start on you meant the girls were finished first, and you waved them off to go get their breakfasts while you finished folding your clothes.

A knock came to the classroom door while you were on the hunt for a missing sock, and you nearly let out all your frustrations on whoever it was for ruining your concentration when you turned and saw Tanaka leaning against the doorframe. 

He grinned at you, “Thought ‘ya might need some help.”

You laughed nervously, holding up the piece of cloth in your hand, “Unless you have some kind of sock tracking device, I don’t think you’ll do much good here.”

He glanced around the room, eyes stopping on something, “Is that not it, behind ‘ya?”

You followed his outstretched finger, seeing exactly what you’d been looking for for the past ten minutes. A quiet, “Oh” was all you could really think to say before collecting it and reuniting it with its pair. 

Tanaka was frowning, “Are you feelin’ okay? It’s not like you to miss somethin’ like that.”

You sighed, chewing your lip, “I'm just a bit upset, because it's the last day.”

Not two seconds later you were engulfed in a bear hug, a laugh being drawn out of you at the familiar warmth now encasing you.

“Hey, at least you have us!” He chuckled. 

You pulled back, blinking up at him, “What?”

“Us. Karasuno. Aren’t ‘ya stayin’ with your Uncle after this? We’ll still be havin’ practice, and I- I mean  _ we _ ’d like you to be there.” 

You mentally slapped yourself. Of course you were still going to be with Keishin, still going to be close to the Karasuno players, and still going to be near Tanaka. You couldn't believe how easily you’d forgotten that. The relief you felt when you realised you would be seeing him after today made you decide something, and you’d be damned if you didn’t get it out then and there. 

You cleared your throat, ignoring the butterflies that had suddenly arrived in your stomach, “Hey, Tanaka?”

“Mm?”

“Remember that love letter you sent me a week ago?”

He blushed, “Uh, yeah?”

“I’ve made a decision.”

“Y-You have?” 

You nodded and, trying to will down every feeling that made you want to run away and never show your face in public again, you quickly leaned up and pecked him on the lips, face fully on fire. 

His eyes were wide when you pulled away, trying to figure out the meaning behind a kiss that had barely lasted a second.

You looked away, “I like you too.”

***

As the buses began to pile up, there were teary goodbyes, lots of hugs, and covert glances shared between you and Tanaka. 

Almost every person hugged you, save for a few of the more awkward players - you got a particularly heart-wrenching nod from Ushijima - but very soon it was your turn to climb up onto the bus, choosing a particularly comfy-looking window seat so you could watch the landscape whizz past you.

You were joined unsurprisingly by Tanaka, the two of you engaging in a whispered discussion as everyone else began to drift off to sleep, and when you woke up - having unknowingly fallen asleep mid-conversation - cuddled up to his side, all you could think was how glad you were to have received a bunch of terrible pick-up lines on that bright pink love letter. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you unfamiliar with the term, GBFF stands for Gay Best Friend Forever, which is kind of a stereotypical straight girl thing I'm pretty sure.


	19. It Might Be Your Wound But They're My Sutures (Sawamura Daichi)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy SHIT did this take a long time. What with school starting back, and the reminder that my mental health did not, in fact, get better over summer, I did not get a lot of time to write.  
> But here I am! Back with the long-awaited (seriously, I've lost count of how many people asked for this) Daichi chapter, and it's just over 3700 words!!!  
> Enjoy!

“An’ this is Sawamura Daichi.” Keishin told you, gesturing towards the final boy in the group, tall - although certainly not as tall as the ace or the middle blocker that had already been introduced to you - and broad-shouldered, sending you a gentle smile that calmed you immediately. 

“Ah, the captain!” You gushed, remembering the conversations you'd shared with Keishin in the past where he'd explained some of the workings of his team. 

Sawamura seemed surprised that you had recognised him as such, given that the practice kits didn’t have the number that would proclaim him as the captain, but when he opened his mouth, probably to voice his confusion, Keishin clapped his hands and demanded for the practice match to begin.

You took a seat next to the two managers and took your phone out of your pocket. You had a lot of text messages to catch up on, your friends having sent many during the journey to Shiratorizawa that you hadn't looked at yet for fear of becoming car sick, but you kept finding your attention drawn back to the match in front of you, your Uncle’s love of volleyball having been shared with you from a very young age meaning you could easily decipher the different plays and comment on them to the girls beside you.

The first set had been taken by Nekoma, although the difference in points were very slight. While the players cooled off a little, you busied yourself by helping Shimizu and Yachi distribute water bottles and towels. 

“Ah, did you enjoy the first set? I saw you watching,” proclaimed a kind-looking silver-haired boy - Sugawara, you remembered vaguely - when you handed a water bottle to Sawamura, who was beside him. 

You nodded enthusiastically, “It was amazing! Hinata and Kageyama’s quicks were...really quick!” The two boys laughed at your words, but you kept going. “And Nishinoya’s receives! He’s a fantastic libero! Oh!” You cried, looking at the captain, “And Sawamura, your receives too! I understand now what Uncle Keishin said when he called you the backbone of the team! Were you ever a libero?”

Sawamura blinked, a light blush forming on his cheeks, “Once, yeah. But I'm happy enough with my current position. Thank you for noticing.”

Sugawara rolled his eyes, “Stop being so formal, Daichi,” He turned to you, “He tends to get like this when he's complimented by cute girls.”

“O-Oh,” you stuttered, because you weren't sure what else there was to say.

Sugawara sent you a wink and walked off, leaving you and Sawamura alone. He cleared his throat, “You can call me Daichi, by the way. And don’t listen to Suga, he just likes to tease.”

You giggled slightly, “So he was just teasing me then? When he said I was cute?”

Daichi looked away, cheeks pink, “N-No, he was telling the truth about that.”

Before you could say anything more, Keishin called for the second set.

You couldn't help yourself from sending glances towards Daichi, and when you saw him looking too, it was well worth the comments from Keishin about how you’d “already managed ‘ta seduce the Captain.”

***

It was unsurprising to you that the first thing you registered when you woke up was the sound of rain hitting the roof above you, because of course the weather was bad to match how you were feeling.

Well, you weren't feeling  _ bad _ , per se, but you were definitely feeling off, and you had been since a few nights ago, your first night at camp to be precise. You weren't sure what exactly it was, but you knew you didn't like the feeling. And yet, some part of you knew exactly what was wrong, but your mind had been so preoccupied with helping the other managers wherever you could that you hadn't figured it out yet.

A quick check of your phone told you that you'd slept through breakfast - which would definitely explain the lack of other people in the bedroom - and you were glad that you'd stuffed some snacks into your backpack before leaving your house, because while you'd much prefer a proper meal, you'd also rather have something unhealthy in your stomach than nothing at all. 

While you munched on a bag of popcorn, your phone lit up with a message. Checking it, you saw it was from Kiyoko, asking if you could bring her her notebook, because she'd forgotten it.

As strange as you thought that was - she definitely wasn’t the type to forget things easily - you were all too glad to be of help, and you quickly pinpointed the location of the notebook, getting yourself dressed and beginning to make the journey to where Karasuno were playing. On the way, your curiosity got the better of you and you started reading the manager’s notes.

You wandered into the gym, focusing only on the notebook in front of you which depicted each Karasuno player and their strengths, weaknesses, and specific types of plays that they were fond of. Kiyoko’s handwriting was like a computer font, you could read every symbol so clearly, and even the most complex of kanji was incredibly legible.

You glanced up quickly to see where she was sitting, and returned your gaze back to the book while you walked over towards the bench.

You were so busy staring at the words, that you didn’t notice anyone frantically calling your name until something hit you in the side of your head.

You didn’t get any time to question what had happened, because you had already lost your footing, the wooden floor of the gym suddenly coming closer to your face, before you saw blackness.

When you reopened your eyes everything was fuzzy. You were still lying on the floor, a loud ringing in your ears, but there was something off about your vision, and it wasn’t just that things were really blurry.

Your head was...elevated? You could definitely feel something soft beneath you, and found yourself smiling slightly as you looked up above you, blinking a few times as the dark blob became more detailed, eventually morphing into the concerned face of Daichi.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?” 

You blinked a few more times, attempting to clear up the fuzziness in your mind, “I-I’m fine, it doesn’t hu-” You froze. Your head wasn’t sore, but there was definitely a pain somewhere in your body. You quickly realised the pinching sensation was coming directly from your abdomen, and your mind went into overdrive counting out the days before coming to a horrible realisation about the terrible timing of your body clock, and the rather belated discovery of why you'd felt so off the past few days. 

Daichi, of course, was no mind reader, and immediately took your pause to assume that you were still in pain about getting hit with what you assumed to have been a stray volleyball.

He began fussing over you, telling you to “Just stay still, try not to move too much, it’ll go away soon.”

You shook your head and started to get up, “It won’t be going away for a few more days, I’m afraid.” The look of confusion on his face was priceless, and you would’ve smirked if not for the sudden feeling that your underwear was not quite as dry as it once was. Coupled with the now growing pain beneath your stomach, you realised that things were happening quicker than you'd first thought and you cursed Mother Nature for humiliating you in such a way. 

You hissed when a sudden wave of pain hit you, your hand snapping forward to grab your stomach in an attempt to soothe things.

Daichi was by your side in an instant, face pale - although probably not as pale as yours, given your current predicament - and looking absolutely terrified. The poor boy was probably trying to figure out how a hit in the head could make you feel pain in your lower body. 

Things were getting worse for you. A slight patch of dampness was slowly growing and you could tell without even shifting your weight that if you stood up there’d be evidence left behind of your time on the floor. 

You glanced around, noting that everyone in the room was watching with varying levels of concern, but none more so than Daichi, who was the only one actually with you. 

“D-Daichi,” you managed to get out through gritted teeth. “I really need your help.”

He nodded solemnly, “Anything.”

“I can’t get up,” you began, holding a hand up to stop him from worrying about how and why you suddenly couldn’t use your legs. “I, uh, I’m  _ bleeding _ .” You said the last word in a whisper, trying to convey as much meaning as possible, and you glanced down to your hand-clutched stomach and back up to him to convey exactly what was going on.

His eyes followed the motion of yours, glancing down then back up, before something visibly clicked and he turned back to motion Sugawara over, whispering something to the boy who nodded and sped off. You gave Daichi a confused look.

“Suga’s just bringing some towels.”

You nodded, before looking back at him, “How am I going to get up?”

He grinned, “I’ll carry you.”

You blinked, the words sinking in, “Y-You don’t have to do that! I’m pretty heavy, you know!”

He raised an eyebrow, “You’re not heavy in the slightest.”

“You haven’t picked me up yet,” you pointed out.

He chuckled, “I can tell just by looking at you.”

You were about to open your mouth to respond when Sugawara appeared, brandishing two enormous fluffy towels. He handed you one, telling you to “Put this around your waist,” which you did, wincing slightly when your weight shifted to put pressure right where you were sorest. Once you had it wrapped around you, you felt Daichi’s arms encircle you, one under your back, the other under your bent knees, perfectly executing a princess lift.

Once you were fully off the ground you looked down at the floor in fear, relief washing through you when you saw that Sugawara had already covered whatever might’ve been there with the other towel, Kiyoko joining him with cleaning products. 

You wrapped your arms around Daichi’s neck, embarrassment taking over as you nuzzled into his neck to try and hide from all the players who would know by now exactly what was going on. You felt a vibration in the captain’s chest as he breathed out a laugh at your sudden shyness.

He carried you to the girls’ locker room, setting you down so you could take a shower and clean yourself up a bit. You turned to him, “Could you bring me some clean clothes?”

“Of course! What do you need?”

You smiled at his eagerness, “You can bring me my pyjamas, I kind of just want to stay in bed for the rest of the day. I’ll definitely need clean underwear, and there should be pads in my bag.”

He stilled, “Uh, do you want me to get one of the girls to-”

“No,” you said, cutting him off. “At this point the thought of you poking around in my stuff is the least of my worries. Ah, but do me a favour?”

“Yeah?”

“There should be a few pairs of period pants, bring one of those.” You said, already shrugging off your t-shirt, leaving you topless save for your bra. You peeked over and saw that Daichi was looking everywhere but at you. Your heart ached at how kind he was.

“What are-”

“The older-looking ones, plain and boring, kind of worn out. Nothing that’s fancy or pretty, those are for non-bleeding days.”

“Got it!” He said, then promptly ran out.

You couldn't hold back the slight giggle. You had learnt quickly since arriving just how kind-hearted the Karasuno Captain was, even if he could be stern and even downright scary towards some of the younger members of his team.

Depositing your jacket, shirt, bra, socks, and shoes on the locker room’s bench, and dumping the towel unceremoniously on the floor, you carried your jeans and underwear into the shower with you, knowing full well they may be ruined forever but you were ready to make an attempt at saving their lives. 

The feeling of the hot water hitting your sore muscles, as well as your now slightly swollen abdomen, was heavenly, and you involuntarily groaned.

While you would've loved to stay under the stream for the rest of your life, you knew you'd be better off getting out and going to rest. Or rather, you would've gotten out, except you were suddenly reminded of your lack of towels, the only one being on the floor some distance away and having been rendered unusable by your body’s situation.

As if summoned by your very thoughts, you heard Daichi calling your name, and you peeked out from behind the shower curtain to see him holding a large towel in front of him, his other hand being used to shield his eyes, giving you some privacy. Suddenly the fluttering in your stomach wasn't just from your period.

You took the towel, wrapping it around yourself quickly before the chill of the locker room could reach you.

With a glance back to see that his eyes were still covered, an idea came into your mind that made the strange butterflies in your stomach multiply.

Smirking as if you'd come up with a dastardly plan, you quickly kissed Daichi on the cheek before he could figure out you were already covered and therefore take his hand away from his eyes.

He spluttered as you walked back to the main locker area, “Wh-What was that for?”

“As a thank you,” you replied, taking stock of what he'd brought you. You raised an eyebrow at 3 items left in a stack beside your neatly folded pyjamas, turning back to Daichi. “You brought me chocolate?”

His cheeks were pink, whether from the kiss or the question, you weren't sure. He nodded, “I saw you had some already in your backpack, but I thought you might want more, especially if you'll be staying in bed for a while.”

“Should I give you another thank you?” You asked, grinning as his face grew redder.

You gestured for him to turn around again, dressing quickly and sighing happily at the comfort of your pyjamas.

“You can look,” you told him, moving to sit down so you could tie your shoes. 

“You don't have to do that,” he said, and when you looked up at him with confusion, he smiled. “I can carry you back.”

You were still confused, “Don't you have to get back to practice?”

He shook his head, “Ennoshita’s going to be taking my place for a while. I told them I had to make sure you were okay.”

“And Keishin was okay with it?”

He gave you a look that said ‘Are you serious?’, “He was very supportive. Actually, a few others had offered to look after you for him, but he was adamant that it should be me.”

This surprised you, “Who else offered?”

“Not sure, but when I was taking you out earlier a few of the other captains were glaring, so I’m going to go ahead and guess that they were among the ‘few others’.”

You took a minute to process this information, both the fact that some of the captains were vying for your attention, and the fact that Daichi had practically spat the words out, his mouth in a firm scowl. 

You’d be lying if you said the idea of him disliking you getting attention from other boys didn’t made your heart throb.

You had slipped your shoes off while talking, now holding them as well as the chocolate and anything else you were taking back with you. You frowned at your now wet jeans and underwear that you’d left in a heap on the floor. 

“I’ll get Kiyoko to sort them out,” Daichi told you, answering your unspoken question in an instant. 

You smiled weakly, thankful that he was helping you but hating the fact that you were inconveniencing everyone just because you miscounted a few days.

Sensing your change in mood, Daichi took one of the chocolate bars out of your hands before you could process, breaking off a few squares and - after a gesture that reminded you of a mother feeding her child - popped it into your mouth. 

He smiled at your happy reaction to the sweetness, giving you back the chocolate and picking you up gently, telling you that “I want you to rely on me until you feel better.”

Due to your current position, giving him another thank-you kiss on his cheek was an easy feat. 

***

Things were easing up by the start of the second week of camp, the pain practically non-existent and you were able to wear the non-period pants without fear of having them ruined by leaks.

Not long after waking up, the other girls already dressed and milling around chatting while they waited to go down to breakfast, a knock came to the door. 

All eyes turned to you, every person in the room knowing exactly who it was, and you felt yourself blushing as you called out a “Come in!”

The door opened rather hesitantly, the boy behind it smiling sheepishly when he saw the other managers. 

“Sorry, should I come back a bit later?” 

Yukie sent him a wicked grin, “Don't worry, lover boy, we were just leaving.” As they exited through the door, you watched as several of them - Yukie included - turned to you and mouthed something which had you remembering all too suddenly of the conversation that had taken place between you and the managers the night previous. 

It had started when the girls returned after the last match, none of them needed for the boys’ free practice so instead they were waiting in the room until dinner. 

You were already there, having returned after Karasuno’s last match had ended without sticking around to listen to the talk from Keishin and Takeda-sensei that they would no doubt be receiving. 

Hana was the first to speak to you, “Sawamura looked sad to see you leave so soon.” 

You smiled at the thought, eyes remaining on your book, “He’ll see me at dinner.”

The sound of a cackle told you Yukie had entered, “You mean you didn’t want to give your boyfriend a congratulatory kiss? I’m shocked.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you said, rolling your eyes at her. The room froze for an instant. You looked up, sensing the change in atmosphere, to find all seven pairs of eyes staring at you. “What?” You asked cautiously.

“You’re...joking, aren’t you?” Mai asked, looking between you and the other girls.

You frowned, “Of course I’m not joking, we’ve only known each other since the day I got here, hardly enough time to start dating.”

Hitoka’s eyes widened from her place on the floor, “You only met last week? I thought Coach Ukai had already introduced you two!”

“Why would you think that?”   
Yukie broke in, “Uh, maybe the fact that you two have been on the same wavelength since day one?”

You thought about this for a moment. Daichi was the last member of Karasuno to be introduced to you on that first day, and by that point all the other players had started stretching in preparation for the practice match. You had chatted with him a little then, and then again at half-time, and then again every single day, whenever you saw him... You could’ve slapped yourself. Of course it would seem like you were already acquainted. But that still left one thing unanswered.

“But what made you think we were dating?” You asked the room, receiving several deadpanning faces in return.

“Put it this way,” Kiyoko gently informed you. “When you’re together, you don’t seem to notice anyone else.”

Mai laughed, “It’s obvious he likes you, and I think the feeling’s mutual.”

You spluttered, “That’s not-” You stopped yourself. Was it true? Your immediate answer was no, no it’s not, but thinking back to the day where he’d helped you, carrying you out of the room, bringing you whatever you needed, carrying you back to the bedroom and tucking you into your futon, making sure you were warm enough, comfortable enough, happy enough. The overwhelming sensation of your heart clenching tightly in your chest mixed with the massive hoard of butterflies that had taken refuge in your stomach whenever you remembered these things gave you your answer.

Which is why currently, with Daichi standing at the door, you in bed, and Yukie’s lips forming the words ‘Kiss him’, you couldn’t help but blush.

His cheeks were a little red too. “L-Lover boy?”

You giggled at his apprehension, “They have this idea that you like me or something. I doubt it’s true though.” You said dismissively, hoping he would take the bait.

He did.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said, giving you a soft smile that made your stomach clench. Every little movement of his face reminded you exactly how handsome he was. It was infuriating.

You bit your lip, the picture of innocence. “You wouldn’t?”

He apparently wasn’t able to act as well as you, hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck, sending you a sheepish grin, “Not at all.”

You weren’t sure you could keep the ball rolling - not verbally, at least - so instead you opened your arms, watching as he inhaled sharply before walking towards you and returning your embrace. 

This wasn’t the first time you’d hugged - finding out that his natural body temperature was akin to a furnace was definitely a miracle revelation at the worst points during your period, his hand on your stomach working as a makeshift heat pad for whenever yours had cooled off - but you hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

“I, uh,” he cleared his throat. “Do I take that as a sign that things are mutual?”

You laughed, “No, Daichi, I brought you in for a hug so that I could brutally reject you.”

He chuckled along with you, and then you sat like that, just the two of you, until the grumbling from your stomach reminded you what time of day it was.

“You know, you don’t have to limit yourself to just thank-you kisses now,” he told you before the two of you left the room.

You rolled your eyes, but brought his face down to meet yours anyway.

A thank-you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ending is pure cheese but honestly? I'm fine with it.


	20. Goldeneye (Kozume Kenma)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up 17 months late with Starbucks* WOOPS
> 
> This is very extremely late, and I am very extremely sorry. In the last 17 months, I left school, started got a tongue piercing (thanks for the inspo, Terushima xoxo), started college, and just generally tried to survive. 
> 
> Please take my apologies along with this almost 6,500-word chapter of Kenma goodness.
> 
> Oh! And HOLY SHIT FUCKING GOD, OVER 1000 KUDOS HOW DO SO MANY PEOPLE ENJOY MY WRITING I AM DEFINITELY NOT THAT GOOD BUT I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS.
> 
> And with that out of the way, please to enjoy, my lovelies.

The entire room was looking at you. You couldn't exactly blame them because you had just walked in with Keishin and disrupted their practice, but that didn't take away the fact that you were being stared at. You imagined they all hated you for interrupting them and were now internally cursing the new girl who had just wandered in behind Karasuno's coach.

They must've been good at hiding their annoyance at your arrival because their response to your introduction was pleasant, and you were briefly met with many kind and even welcoming smiles before the focus was put back onto the practice matches and, thankfully, off of you.

With the atmosphere in the room returning to normal, you were introduced to Shimizu and Yachi, both girls greeting you warmly before taking you over to the bench so you could sit and watch the match with them.

You weren't as interested in the match as you were in the other occupants of the room. Your eyes raked over the gym before landing on a team dressed in red and black. The reason your eyes stopped there? You were being watched. A tall boy with a sly grin on his face that was made slier by the fact his messy black hair was covering one of his eyes, the other of which was staring right at you.

You were about to look away, face heating up at the attention when something else caught your notice. Or rather, someone.

You thought back to a few minutes ago when you had just entered the room. This boy, the one you were looking at now, was one of the very few who hadn't seemed too interested in your arrival. Part of you was glad they were uninterested, as the attention you'd received had felt more like you were an animal in a zoo rather than a person arriving in a new place. The other part of you was mildly annoyed, wondering why they hadn't seemed to care about you.

Even now this boy was uninterested in his surroundings, his focus drawn solely to the 3DS in front of his face. Your curiosity got the better of you and you turned to the girls you’d just met.

"Hey," you started, softly so as not to disrupt anyone any more than you already had. "What team is that? In the black and red?"

Shimizu gave you a knowing smile, "Nekoma. Did someone interest you?"

Yachi's eyes widened, "Was it Kuroo-san? He's been looking at you for a while now."

You tilted your head slightly, "Is he the one with the bad hair?"

"Yes, that's him," Shimizu laughed softly. "But he's not the one you want to know about."

It wasn't a question. She'd picked up on your real thoughts straight away. "The one with the blond hair, playing games."

"That's Kozume Kenma," you were told. "He's their setter."

"Ah, yes," Yachi agreed. "He's friends with Hinata."

"That's...your decoy, right?" You said, recognising the name from conversations with Keishin.

Shimizu nodded, then turned her attention back to the match in front of her, signaling the end of your conversation. But you were more interested in the team standing around the other court in this gym, the members of Nekoma stretching before their match against a team dressed in dark blue.

You noticed bedhead - Kuroo - chatting with a member of the dark blue team, a muscular boy with strange white and black hair who was clearly very excited to be playing against the other.

You looked at Kozume, his focus still drawn to the game in front of him, having stretched his muscles for a fraction of the time the others had.

As you watched, another boy from the blue team - this one a little smaller than Kuroo and muscle-boy - started to make conversation with Kozume. He's pretty, you thought when you looked at him, kind of stoic looking, but it makes him more mysterious. You almost laughed as Kozume made no attempt at fully talking to the other, but you were sure he was answering some, although his mouth was obscured by the angle of his head. Now that you thought about it, you had yet to see his whole face.

Pretty Boy didn't seem too put out by the lack of conversation on Kozume's part, and you were just staring at the slightest change of emotion on the gamer's face when you felt someone looking at you. As you moved your gaze up slightly you found yourself looking straight into the dark green eyes of Pretty Boy.

Shit, you thought as you looked down at your lap, He knows I was staring at Kozume. Hopefully, he doesn't realise for how long. You knew this was wishful thinking. Something about this boy reminded you of Shimizu, and how she had known exactly what you were thinking. From what you could tell so far, they both shared an intelligence that you could only attach to perception.

Clearly, this perception meant Pretty Boy knew that you were intrigued by Nekoma’s setter, which is why when you felt a new pair of eyes on you, you knew exactly who they would belong to. Against all better judgement, you lifted your head.

Only to find yourself staring straight into a pair of bright golden eyes.

You'd only been here an hour and already you'd locked eyes with someone you'd openly describe as beautiful.

The choking sound from beside you was a hint that you hadn't exactly said those words internally.

"K-Kozume?!" Came the high-pitched squeak from Yachi.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Shimizu nod as she patted the blonde girl's hand. "Kozume."

  
*  *  *  *  *

  
"I really think you'd be better off sittin' with the managers."

You didn't look up, "It's my first meal here, I'd rather sit with the two people I know best."

"She can always sit with them at breakfast," you heard Takeda assuring the man opposite you.

A huff, "Fine, but do ya really have to play that here?"

You were glad your head was tilted downwards, staring at the 3DS in your hands, because you felt your face heat up slightly.

You didn't have to play it here, but you wanted to. For two reasons: the first being that here in the cafeteria, there were no volleyballs, nets, or scoreboards, which meant any and all attention could be put on you. Having your nose stuck in a game meant that attention could be ignored, in the hopes that everyone would eventually get bored and forget you existed.

Then there was the second reason, and this was what made you embarrassed to admit, even to yourself.

You just really wanted Kozume to notice you. And you had a bit of a plan.

But for now, your answer to Keishin's question was a simple, "I just need to get 1000 more Bells and then I can upgrade my house."

You felt more than saw the look of pain on your Uncle's face as he tried to understand your words. "That... is that... the, uh, money?"

"Currency," you corrected. "And yes. But I should be able to get it easily. I have a few trees that give fruit that isn't native to my town, so they'll sell for a lot. Then I have perfect apple trees, and there are seashells on the beach, and if I still don't have enough, every tree in my town bears fruit so if need be I can sell it all."

You could tell the two men were giving each other looks, but it was Takeda that spoke up. "This game sounds very... resourceful."

"It is," you agreed. "If the fruit and seashells don't give me enough, I can fish or look for bugs or things in the sea."

"Or you could sell fossils." A new, soft voice piped up from behind you.

It took every effort for you not to yelp or immediately turn around. Instead, you kept yourself calm, your eyes remaining fixed on your game as if you had conversations every day that were interrupted by boys popping up behind you.

You answered back effortlessly, "I did that this morning, but there was only one that the museum already had, and it was one of the smaller ones so it didn't sell for a huge lot."

"You donated to the museum even though you're saving up?" His voice was close by, you could tell he was watching over your shoulder, intrigued by your playing.

You looked back ever so slightly, eyes locking onto the golden orbs that made your breath stop earlier. "You wouldn't?"

Kozume didn't look away. Surprising, you thought. He seems so shy, yet he's making conversation with me so easily. Your stomach clenched at a new thought. Is he...comfortable with me?

"No," he replied. "I wouldn't."

You turned back, "Well, I like filling up the museum."

"Why?"

You huffed, "Because then I get to read the cool animal facts when I finish an exhibit!"

You heard a slight snort, and your cheeks flushed when you realised he was laughing.

"Kenma, we're leaving." Another new voice - Kuroo, you realised from looking back - said smoothly.

"Coming."

You waved a goodbye as Kozume left with his team, turning back to see Keishin with his arms crossed, giving you a smug smirk. "What was that about?"

You shrugged, "We had a conversation about Animal Crossing, didn't you hear?"

His eyes narrowed, "Well now I understand why you didn't wanna sit with the girls." You tilted your head. "They weren't sittin' behind Nekoma. An' they didn't have an empty seat directly behind pudding-head."

You blushed, embarrassed at having your plan laid out so bare, and by your Uncle, no less, "T-That's not- I don't-"

Takeda rolled his eyes, "Stop teasing her so much, there are far worse boys in this room than him."

"Y-Yeah Uncle Keishin! Or would you rather I go hang out with tongue piercing over there," you said, nodding towards the Johzenji table - a team you knew from their practice match against Karasuno earlier, and the captain you knew because of how often he had winked at you and showed off the metal bar in his mouth while playing.

The look of horror that crossed Keishin's face gave you your answer.

You glanced back at the door through which Nekoma had disappeared, "Hey, how long do they normally practice for?"

"Usually for as long as they can," Takeda answered, but smiled when he saw your frown. "Kozume, however, does the bare minimum and then goes back to Nekoma's room for the rest of the night."

You froze. If he goes back to his room he might spend the rest of the night playing games. Maybe we could play something together? The idea excited you, intrigued as you were by the pretty setter. You tried to stay casual in front of the two men, "And...how long does 'the bare minimum' take? Just wondering."

They shared a look before Keishin smirked, "I'd give it 15 minutes, just to be on the safe side."

"Safe side? Uncle Keishin, I'm merely speaking from a hypothetical standpoint."

"And I know you well enough to say that you're gonna sprint up them stairs as soon as 15 minutes pass. Just don't scare him too much."

"I would never-" You cut yourself off at the look Keishin was giving you. It was a look which said 'You can get very over-excited, especially where new friends are concerned. Tone it down a notch.' (Although considering this was Keishin we were talking about it would be more along the lines of 'Don't get weird. It's creepy as shit.')

Grumbling under your breath, you returned your attention to your game, starting to harvest your foreign fruit trees as you heard Keishin and Takeda start talking about volleyball stuff, but keeping an eye on the game's clock to stay aware of the passage of time.

Fifteen minutes passed excruciatingly slowly, and you came so close to just declaring, "Fuck it!" and bolting upstairs when you noticed Takeda had started talking to you.

He gestured to the console in your hand, "Is there some way the two of you can play that game together?"

Surprisingly, considering he was on the forefront of your mind, it took you a minute to realise that he was talking about Kozume, and then you nodded eagerly, "If he has his game with him then we can visit each other's towns! I wonder what his looks like, or if he'll think mine is pretty or not."

Takeda stifled a giggle, "I'm sure he'll love it."

"I hope so!" You beamed, "I spent a long time on it."

He couldn't help but smile at your enthusiasm, "You know, it's been fifteen minutes."

You started, looking at the little clock in the corner of the screen to find that, true enough, fifteen minutes had passed. Nerves blossomed in your stomach, but you tried to give a confident nod towards Keishin and Takeda as you excused yourself from the table.

You continued playing as you made your way up to the dorm rooms, accepting an invitation from one of the villagers to visit your house and setting the time and date for the next day, hoping you wouldn't forget.

You were still nervous - you always were when it came to meeting new people - but focusing your attention on your game helped a lot.

You were so invested on the screen in front of you that you almost missed the soft, "Oh," when you got to the dorm corridor.

You looked up to see Kozume, in almost exactly the same pose as you, face lit up by his own DS, golden eyes boring holes into your own.

"Ah, h-hello again!" You called, hoping he couldn't tell that you were equal parts nervous and excited to get a chance to befriend this intriguing boy. "Did you finish practicing?"

He pulled a face, disgust evident. "Yeah. Now I'm tired."

You laughed slightly at his expression, but felt yourself deflating at his words, "Oh, were you going to bed then?"

He shook his head, "I'll stay up for a while." He lifted his DS up, "Play some more."

"That's what I was going to do!"

He smiled a little, cocking his head towards Nekoma's room door, "Do you want to...together?"

You hoped there was no redness on your face as you nodded.

  
*  *  *  *  *

  
"...You send letters to the villagers?"

You looked at the boy sitting next to you, offended. "I'm not being rude to my village friends, Kozume."

He shifted a little, mumbling something under his breath.

"Huh? What was that?"

He turned his face away, but you could see his cheeks were dusted pink, "I said...you can call me Kenma. Everyone else does."

If everyone else calls you it, you couldn't help but think, why are you getting so flustered?

The two of you had been playing for almost an hour by now; you had visited his town and he was now visiting yours, despite your momentary pause as you remembered to reply to the letters you'd received earlier. You weren't paying any notice to the game's clock until you heard voices in the corridor.

"They must be finished," Kenma said offhandedly, completely focused on the game.

His words turned out to be correct when, not a minute later, Nekoma's messy-haired captain appeared, leaning against the doorframe. You watched his brief shock at seeing you in the room but must've put two and two together quickly when he saw what you were both holding.

"Kenma," he called, causing the blond to look up, "Some of us are gathering in Karasuno's room, and you're coming too."

"I am?"

You snorted a little at the response but stopped when you saw an odd look pass over Kuroo's face, directed towards you. He smirked and looked back at Kenma, "Yes. You are."

You weren't sure what exactly was going on in Karasuno's room, but as Kenma was leaving, Kuroo's eyes were back on you, "You should probably get back to your own room, the rest of the team will be here soon."

You nodded and got up from the floor, but you were stopped before you could leave. Kuroo, barricading you from exiting with his large form, had a playful smile on his face. You were about to ask what the big deal was when he looked behind him as if checking whether the coast was clear or not, and then you watched as his expression dropped into something serious and almost...possessive?

He leaned forward ever so slightly, face almost level with your own, "As Kenma's best friend, you know I'm going to be looking out for him, right?"

You were confused, "Why do you say that as if I'm going to hurt him or something? I like him." At the shock plastered on Kuroo's face, you flailed. "A-As a friend! I mean as a friend!"

He watched your explanation with narrowed eyes, not fully convinced. As he opened his mouth to reply, a new voice sounded from outside.

"Kuro, I thought you were coming?" It was Kenma.

You couldn't see the setter, but you could clearly see the boy in front of you, namely his guilty expression. Is he worrying incase Kenma heard what he said? You froze, If he heard what Kuroo said, then does that mean he heard what I said? You weren't sure why, but the idea of Kenma hearing you say that you only liked him as a friend didn't sit well with you.

The captain gave you another smirk, previous seriousness forgotten, "Get to bed." And with that, he walked off.

You were definitely going to do just that.

  
*  *  *  *  *

  
"Okay, there is absolutely something weird going on," You said for the fourth time that morning, the other girls at the table nodding in agreement.

It wasn't all of them, but there was a noticeable change in some of the boys. You and the managers who weren't on breakfast duty had been among the first to arrive to eat, and as more and more of the boys filed in for food, you'd picked up on a pattern emerging.

It had started with Mai mentioning that there was something strange about Date Tech's big Middle Blocker, Aone. You'd watched his eyes picking you out almost immediately after entering the room, but hadn't thought much of it; you were still the new girl, after all. As time passed, however, more of the managers were spotting subtle differences in both their own team's players and those in other teams.

You weren't enjoying the attention, but you were doing your best to ignore it, focusing on your phone or the ongoing conversation around you about which of the boys would be the best dancer (you weren't entirely sure who Akaashi was, but Yukie and Kaori were adamant that he could dance circles around everyone else). That is until Yukie said something around a large mouthful of rice.

"Beheh's ackhing weer too."

"...You wanna repeat that?"

Yukie quickly swallowed, nodding towards the door, "Bedhead's acting weird too."

You glanced over and sure enough, she was right. Following the pattern, he was staring right at you, something unreadable in his expression before he smirked and winked in your direction. Choking noises from Yukie told you that you hadn't imagined it.

When Kenma walked in behind him, you let out a quiet breath of relief, seeing that he was focusing on the PSP in his hands and not you. That is until he spared a glimpse up and his eyes landed on you, his cheeks colouring ever so slightly before returning back down to his hands.

You wanted to groan, Kenma, not you, too!

You turned to the other girls at the table, "If any of you find out the reason for this, please let me know." You were met with nods of agreement. You figured they were probably as eager to find out as you were, and you were sure some of them would ask their teammates as soon as possible.

You went back to your breakfast, trying to ignore the girls' incessant need to keep updating you every time someone new walked into the room acting strangely. You decided that you'd stay as far away from the gyms as possible today, as you already had the urge to explore the large Shiratorizawa campus, and this new situation only served to fuel that desire.

You returned to your room after breakfast, accompanied by some of the girls grabbing notebooks and pens before disappearing off for the matches. You were staring back and forth between two different books, trying to choose which one you would take with you on your exploration when your thoughts were cut short by a gentle knocking on the door frame.

Due to the door already being open, you saw straightaway who it was - and you were mildly shocked to see that it was someone you recognised from Karasuno. You had yet to be properly introduced to any of the players, but you definitely remembered seeing the silver hair and warm brown eyes yesterday, as well as the mole beneath his left eye.

He smiled a little sheepishly when you looked up, "Sorry to bother you! Uh, I didn't get a chance to talk to you at breakfast, but I thought you might've noticed some of the other guys acting weird?"

You gasped, "You know?!"

He flushed, "Ah...yeah. Let me explain..."

  
*  *  *  *  *

  
You had been staring at the same two words for the better part of an hour. This wouldn't have bothered you normally, except the two words in question were the first two words of the entire book.

Your mind kept going back to your conversation with Suga.

You weren't really sure how to feel about the situation with the boys. It wasn't something that happened every day, and it definitely wasn't something you were prepared to deal with. If it had happened before in a book or a movie you might have an idea of how you should feel, but as it stood you were mostly going in blind.

Unless...does this count as a harem? One girl, twenty-four guys. Shit, this is a harem, isn't it? Shit.

This wasn't a situation you could ask for advice over, either. Sure, there were the other managers, but you didn't really want to spring this on them, especially when you barely knew them. Your friends back home wouldn't be much help either, seeing as they had no clue who any of these guys were and would need descriptions, maybe even pictures. You'd rather die than bring this to Keishin's attention, and Takeda was always helpful but he'd probably end up telling Keishin anyway.

Of course, this was only how you should deal with the situation. There was still the fact that twenty-four boys had some sort of crush on you, and the fact that you now knew each and every one of their identities - thanks to Suga - made things all the more awkward.

You were trying hard not to think about one person in particular who was involved in this, but every time you caught your mind wandering, it always seemed to be stuck on a certain pair of golden eyes.

You took a deep breath. The air around you smelled of books, the scent calming your inner turmoil. You'd made camp in the library after exploring for a while, the room having drawn you in with its rows upon rows of books and - most importantly, in your opinion - the most inviting window seat you'd ever seen.

You knew lunch was happening around now, but you'd come prepared in the form of several bags of crisps and a few bars of chocolate. You wouldn't eat it all now, obviously, but you'd decided that you'd head back to the cafeteria for dinner, after hopefully sorting your thoughts out a little more.

A competition. That was what Suga had told you it was. A competition to see who could successfully ask you out by the end of the training camp. The silver-haired boy had seemed guilty for being a part of it, but the fact that he'd explained the whole thing to you gave him a free pass, in your opinion. He'd also promised - on your request - to tell the others involved not to suddenly confess to you with no forewarning, as you weren't sure you could actually handle that. If they spent some time beforehand to get to know you and show you the kind of person they were, you'd be far more equipped to consider their confession, in your opinion.

You didn't think any of the boys involved were particularly unpleasant; maybe a few that were rowdy or a little socially awkward, but you thought of yourself as accepting enough that you could get along with any of them easily.

Which just left the same exact person you'd been trying to avoid, the person who was as quiet and shy as you, who shared your interests and was fun to be around. The person who you now knew had some kind of feelings for you, who was pretty and cute and who you knew you'd say yes to if they confessed.

Put simply, you were fucked.

  
*  *  *  *  *

The sun had gone down in the world outside the window. You hadn't looked yet, still focused fully on the words in front of you, but your peripheral vision told you everything. Thankfully the lights in the library were motion-sensitive, to avoid you having to get up to find a switch.

You knew it was late, but you hadn't checked the exact time, still unsure if you were ready to return to civilisation or not, despite your stomach loudly letting you know its opinion on the matter.

You hadn't made much headway with your thoughts, apart from your decision regarding Kenma. You were wishing - not for the first time since you found out the truth - that this whole thing hadn't happened, and you could've just had a normal time here making friends and having fun, but now you had this competition looming over you.

You suddenly heard footsteps beyond the library door, coming closer. You weren't fully surprised, knowing it was only a matter of time before Keishin sent someone to retrieve you.

The door swung open to reveal Kuroo, his eyes immediately finding you and one hand lifting up in a sheepish wave. Your brain reminded you that he was part of the contest and that you should be a bit ticked off at him, so you returned your gaze to the book on your lap.

"Yeah, Suga said you'd probably be angry," he said as he walked over and took a seat on the floor beside you. "I don't blame you."

"Call me weird, but I don't exactly like being treated like some kind of object or prize to be won."

"Believe me, that wasn't the intention. You just...made an impression on everyone."

You sighed, resting your head on the wall behind you, "Clearly."

He paused, thinking over his words, "You and Kenma. You like each other, right?"

You tried to fight the blush you knew would be creeping onto your cheeks, "We've known each other a day, and we've only spent like an hour together."

"Yeah, but I've known Kenma basically my whole life, and I know when he clicks with someone. I saw it with me, with the kid from Karasuno, and now with you. He doesn't need a lot of time to click, and I don't think you do either."

He was right. There was a definite connection between the two of you, made even more apparent by the fact it'd been noticed by Kuroo.

"He's probably not going to confess, right?" You asked, already knowing the answer.

"God no. I'll talk to him about it, but there's no way he'll actually do it. I'll probably end up having to ask you for him."

You glanced down at him, noting how he'd avoided looking up at you since the moment he'd sat on the floor, "Sorry if it comes to that."

"It's fine," Kuroo said softly, still not meeting your eyes, before visibly brightening and smiling up at you, "Anyway! I have to get you down for dinner!"

He practically bounced up off the floor, making you laugh at how quickly he'd turned his mood around. You could see why Kenma liked him so much, he was definitely a friend worth having.

The walk back to the cafeteria was short and made better by listening to Kuroo talk and make jokes. You'd managed to forget about the ensuing storm that would come by walking into a room of people who wanted to confess to you, at least until you walked through the cafeteria doors.

Thankfully nothing happened that was actually resembling a storm, but the entirety of the room did go quiet when you walked in, which in your opinion was far worse.

You felt dozens of pairs of eyes on you accompanying the silence, and you immediately dropped your gaze to the floor, willing yourself to turn around and leave the room.

You felt a hand - Kuroo's - on your shoulder, nudging you ever so slightly over to the food area, and you followed dutifully, thankful that you had a friendly presence to spur you into action instead of standing in the entrance like an idiot.

He continued to nudge you gently until you'd sat down at a table, the silence deafening you the whole time. You knew your face was red, you could feel the blistering heat coming off it, and you resigned yourself to staring solely at the food on your tray and hope that conversations would start up soon.

The table you'd sat at was one that Kuroo had directed you over to, and you knew that he'd sat opposite you, but hadn't taken into account the other occupants until you heard Kuroo loudly start talking to someone, the relief of noise instantly washing over you.

Slowly, very slowly, the sound picked up, until the room was back to its usual rumble of voices. The heat of your embarrassment had died down, and you lifted your head to take note of what was happening around you.

Kuroo was opposite you, as you already knew, and you now saw that the person he was talking to was the strangely-haired muscular boy you'd seen the day before, who was sitting beside him. They were in a heated debate about something volleyball-related, which meant you had absolutely no idea what it was. Opposite him, and beside you, was the same exact boy you had dubbed Pretty Boy, quietly eating but still paying attention to the conversation between the two boys. You had a quick look around the room, but Kenma was nowhere to be found.

Pretty Boy glanced at you, having noticed your quiet search, "He's in his dorm room. There have been a few rumours going around all day, and he didn't want to be in the cafeteria to find out if any of them were true."

You didn’t question the ‘him’ that was being referred to; instead, you asked, “Rumours?”

“About who won the contest.” He replied simply, before turning back to his food.

You were confused. “But...no one’s won the contest.”

The conversation in front of you had ended, and now Kuroo spoke up, “We know that, and you know that, but you were gone all day. Without you around to defend yourself, everyone and their Uncle started making up rumours.”

“That’s a bit of an unsavoury phrase in this situation, Kuroo-san,” Pretty Boy chided.

You giggled softly at Kuroo’s guilty expression, before asking, “Who’s been saying they’ve won?”

At this, the white-and-black-haired boy stopped shovelling food into his face and bounced in his seat, throwing his hands up to count his fingers, “Let’s see! There’s Oikawa - that’s Seijoh’s captain - Kuroo’s teammate Tora - y’know, the one with the weird mohawk thing - Karasuno’s baldy said something about you but then I think he backed out, and Seijoh’s double act were making jokes but they’re not even involved so I don’t think they count -“

“Bokuto-san, I think you’ve said enough now.”

Bokuto stopped talking immediately, now noticing the expression of terror on your face. It was only when you started hearing how many people had lied about you that you realised how serious this whole competition really was. And that Kenma had gone back to the dorm because of it.

Kuroo looked thoughtful, “Hey, Akaashi,” he said to the boy beside you, “Did you say Kenma was in the dorm?”

Akaashi smiled, clearly picking up whatever hint Kuroo was dropping, before shifting his eyes to you, “Yes,” he said carefully, “He is.”

It wasn’t until both Kuroo’s and Bokuto’s gazes joined Akaashi’s that you fully realised what they were telling you. When it hit, you let out a lame “Oh!” and started to get up, before pausing to add a “Please excuse me,” to the other occupants at the table.

When you were halfway to the cafeteria door, you heard Kuroo calling your name loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. When you turned back around, he sent you a wink and yelled, “If he asks you out, you’re saying yes, right?”

Your face heated up at the attention you were now getting from everybody else, and the anxious adrenaline rushing through your body was enough to make you jittery, but you made sure to clearly yell back a “Yes!” before letting the nervous energy take over and sprinting out of the cafeteria. You definitely didn’t want to stay behind and witness the damage you’d left behind you. Instead, you had only one goal in mind.

You knew taking the stairs two steps at a time was a bad idea even when you were just walking, but you didn’t stop to worry about the possible dangers as you bounded up, focusing only on reaching the dorm corridor.

It was only when you were standing outside Nekoma’s room that you realised you had no fucking clue what you were going to say.

You took a deep breath. Come on, bitch, you thought to yourself, you’ll regret it more if you don’t do anything. With that motivation, you lifted your hand and knocked on the door. When you heard a faint voice inviting you in, you steeled your nerves as best you could, pulling open the door.

Sat cross-legged on the floor, Nintendo Switch in his hands, you probably could’ve guessed you’d find him like this. He looked up when you entered, visibly shocked to see you.

You could’ve sworn that your stomach had become home to a herd of buffalo at that moment, but you took another deep breath and smiled, “Your friends told me I’d find you here.”

He clicked his tongue, “Kuro.”

You giggled a little, “Yeah. He really cares about you, you know.”

Kenma simply nodded, attention drifting back to the console in front of him. You made your way over to him - cautiously stepping over the futons covering the floor - and took a seat on his left. With a peek, you saw he was playing Breath of the Wild, but you could’ve guessed as much.

There were a few minutes of silence while he played and you watched, before you broke the silence with a soft, “Do you have any ice arrows?” and when he showed you that he did indeed, you pointed to the screen and said, “See that Moblin over there? Shoot it with an ice arrow, then run over and attack it while it’s still frozen; it’s a super easy way to kill them, they can be pretty annoying otherwise.”

You watched as Kenma heeded your advice, dispensing with the tall monster in a few seconds. He looked at you with a smile, “Thanks.”

This continued for a while, Kenma playing and exploring while you offered some information or advice from your own playing. Often you told him something he already knew, but when you gave him something new he always repaid you with a smile. In your opinion, it was a fair exchange.

You knew the atmosphere was going to be ruined at some stage, but your expectations were more on the side of everyone suddenly rushing back to the dorms after extra practice and noisily getting ready for bed.

Instead, the sound of two voices could be heard in the corridor outside. You weren’t entirely sure who they were, but you easily picked up that they were talking about you.

“Ughh, I wanna know who she’s talkin’ about, who’s gonna be askin’ her out?”

“Whoever it is, they’ve won the contest.”

“But I wanted to win the contest!”

You saw Kenma tense up ever so slightly beside you.

“Tanaka, everybody involved in it wanted to win, but we all decided that it was up to her. If she’s made her choice, then she’s made her choice.”

“But Ennoshitaaaaaaa…”

“Stop. You can’t change the way she feels.”

“But I at least wanna know who it is…”

You heard a sigh from Ennoshita, “Nekoma’s captain was the one who was asking her if she’d say yes, so I think it’s probably their setter. He’s good friends with them and he didn’t show up for dinner either.”

Kenma gasped softly, and you knew you were blushing at what the voices were saying.

“You mean the Pudding kid?”

“It seems likely.”

You heard the voices getting fainter until the sound of a door closing signified that they were back in their room. The silence between you and Kenma was almost painful.

“Kenma,” you started, unsure of what you wanted to say. You took a deep breath to try and figure out how to continue but were interrupted.

“I like you.”

It was nothing more than a mumble and said mostly to the Switch screen, but it was unmistakable. You didn’t think you could stop smiling if you tried.

“You know...Akaashi told me you came up here because of the rumours going arou-”

“I know they’re not true.”

You were confused, “Then why…?”

He shrugged, “I didn’t want to hear anyone else talking like that. It annoyed me.”

The seriousness in his voice was too much, and before you could stop yourself you were laughing. He looked at you questioningly, but with amusement in his eyes.

When you were able to calm down again, and when you saw him still looking at you, you found yourself leaning over to kiss his cheek. An innocent action, but one that turned that same cheek bright red, along with several other parts of Kenma’s face. He was pretty and adorable, and you wanted to spend as much time as you possibly could with him. With that in mind, there was only one thing left for you to say.

“Kenma… I like you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can't see me but I haven't stopped smiling since I wrote the last word like ten minutes ago. I look a bit deranged. 
> 
> Hopefully, it doesn't take me nearly a year and a half to write the next chapter but I'm an untrustworthy piece of shite so I won't make any promises. 
> 
> Au revoir!

**Author's Note:**

> And there it is. I'm highkey super excited to write each confession. Hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Come talk to me:  
> brookutoh.tumblr.com


End file.
